Diego Maradona - vulnerability and excess, but above all, breathtaking beauty

“HE has Burruchaga to his left and Valdano to his left; he won’t need any of them.

“Oh, you have to say that’s magnificent. There is no debate about that goal. That was just pure footballing genius.”

As ever, erudite BBC commentator Barry Davies possessed an exquisite sense of timing in his perfect description of the ‘Goal of the Century’ scored by the late, great Diego Armando Maradona for Argentina against England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup.

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To many football observers, Maradona - who died at the age of just sixty yesterday - was the greatest of them all.

Argentina's soccer star team captain Diego Maradona brandishes the World Cup won by his team after a 3-2 victory over West Germany 29 June 1986 at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City.  (Picture: STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)Argentina's soccer star team captain Diego Maradona brandishes the World Cup won by his team after a 3-2 victory over West Germany 29 June 1986 at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City.  (Picture: STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Argentina's soccer star team captain Diego Maradona brandishes the World Cup won by his team after a 3-2 victory over West Germany 29 June 1986 at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City. (Picture: STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)

A grandmaster who carried a nation on his squat shoulders and won football’s global contest virtually single-handedly.

The son of a boatman from Villa Fiorito, Maradona walked on water for his millions of worshippers across Argentina, southern Italy and all continents.

Tantalisingly, there was the mouth-watering potential for Maradona to even stride out regularly on a pitch in Yorkshire and be idolised in the Broad Acres on two occasions. It came to pass.

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Back in late 1978, Sheffield United agreed a fee of £150,000 for the 17-year-old. Blades manager Harry Haslam flew out to Argentina, only for the ruling junta to add an additional six-figure payment for the teenager to leave the country and the deal collapsed.

Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona, wearing a diamond earring, balances a soccer ball on his head as he walks off the practice field following the national selection's 22 May 1986 practice session in Mexico City. (Picture: JORGE DURAN/AFP via Getty Images)Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona, wearing a diamond earring, balances a soccer ball on his head as he walks off the practice field following the national selection's 22 May 1986 practice session in Mexico City. (Picture: JORGE DURAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona, wearing a diamond earring, balances a soccer ball on his head as he walks off the practice field following the national selection's 22 May 1986 practice session in Mexico City. (Picture: JORGE DURAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Nine years later, Maradona’s name would crop up in a lunch conversation at Elland Road between late Leeds United director Bill Fotherby and his agent Jon Smith.

World got out to he may be heading to Leeds. It never transpired, but what a story all the same.

Maradona would never dine out in these parts, but the delectable fare he gave for the global game made up for it.

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Yes, he had a chequered life off the pitch - Maradona’s passing arrived on the 15th anniversary of the death of another footballing maverick George Best - and succumbed to life’s vices.

Argentina captain Diego Maradona celebrates on the shoulders of team mates after they had beaten Russia 3-1 to win the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championships at the National Olympic Stadium on September 7, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan. (Picture: Allsport/Getty Images)Argentina captain Diego Maradona celebrates on the shoulders of team mates after they had beaten Russia 3-1 to win the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championships at the National Olympic Stadium on September 7, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan. (Picture: Allsport/Getty Images)
Argentina captain Diego Maradona celebrates on the shoulders of team mates after they had beaten Russia 3-1 to win the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championships at the National Olympic Stadium on September 7, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan. (Picture: Allsport/Getty Images)

There was vulnerability and excess, but also breathtaking magic.

Maradona’s international playing career would end in shame when he failed a drugs test at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, while he was also banned from football in 1991 after testing positive for cocaine while playing for Napoli. The charge sheet was lengthy.

There was, of course, controversy prior to his second goal against the English in that famous game in ‘86.

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Derided for his ‘Hand of God’ strike to put Argentina ahead, Maradona’s defence was that it was an example of ‘viveza criolla’ - or ‘native cunning.’

Diego Maradona, coach of Gimnasia y Esgrima, sits on the bench prior to Argentina's soccer league match against Boca Juniors at La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Maradona turns 60 on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)Diego Maradona, coach of Gimnasia y Esgrima, sits on the bench prior to Argentina's soccer league match against Boca Juniors at La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Maradona turns 60 on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
Diego Maradona, coach of Gimnasia y Esgrima, sits on the bench prior to Argentina's soccer league match against Boca Juniors at La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Maradona turns 60 on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

It was emblematic of the football in his homeland, where flair was favoured over physicality, innovation over order and a spot of mischief over fair play.

His second goal ultimately should be his footballing epitaph.

Genius is often tainted with imperfections, that is part of the package. As a footballer, Maradona had few if any peers and epitomised the raw soul of the beautiful game.

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Whether that be on the ball on wasteland next to slums where he grew up in Buenos Aires, with some grainy footage still remaining from that time, at La Bombonera - home of the club he loved and graced in Boca Juniors - or Naples’ Stadio San Paulo.

Perhaps, like our own Paul Gascogine, Maradona could only truly be himself and be at home on the pitch.

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