Diego Maradona RIP

[Lillian Thomson]

Deserves his own thread I think. Whatever he did or didn't do in life or football he's still the greatest player I've ever seen.

 

[duffer]

Rip Diego. Way before my time but what I have seen was incredible. Seemed like a tortured soul though

 

[BoyBrumby]

Great player. Amazingly so. Won't pretend I liked the bloke, but he was touched by (yes) the hand of god.

Football nowadays is like a non-contact sport compared to how it used to be when Diego was in his cups, so comparisons with Messi or Ronaldo are invidious.

RIP.

 

[sledger]

RIP.

Had looked in terrible shape over the last few years.

Was watching some highlights from the 2010 WC when he was the Argentina head coach the other day. Only ten years ago, but he literally looked like a different person to how he looked over the last few years.

 

[wpdavid]

Heart attack apparently; maybe not such as massive surprise. Still very young of course. I suppose my abiding memory isn't the obvious one from 1986, but when he played at Wembley in 1980. We had tickets and the match wasn't broadcast due to industrial action, so we were in something of a minority to actually see the game at the time. At one point he left half the England side for dead before slipping the ball past Clemence but also just past the post.

 

[Pothas]

Obviously this should not be a surprise at all but for some reason it really feels like one.

Have been listening to a load of the life in goals podcast recently and he probably gets talked about more than any other player.

 

[Anil]

was my favorite player growing up...still think he has legitimate claims of being the greatest footballer ever...

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Rest In Peace, my fellow South American

 

[Furball]

That reminds me that I've yet to watch Asif Kapadia's film on him.

 

[fredfertang]

He's actually younger than me, but clearly didn't look after himself as well as I have, which seems remarkable

Any death is sad, of course, but personally I've never forgiven him for the hand of God incident

 

[Himannv]

Knew he was hospitalized but somehow didn't expect this. 2020 really is the worst year. One of the greatest ever. RIP.

 

[Uppercut]

An incredible player who lived the boyhood dream of using football to **** over all of his real and imagined enemies. Not only did he win games, but he won them in ways that his hated opponents could never mentally recover from, and hence he will live on in the ongoing bitter tweets of Peter Shilton.

RIP/WAFG.

 

[honestbharani]

RIP. Not a big fan of football but watched the 1994 WC due to all the hype and him being all over the news. Definitely transcended the sport in a way very few sports people do.

 

[Furball]

Great player. Amazingly so. Won't pretend I liked the bloke, but he was touched by (yes) the hand of god.

Football nowadays is like a non-contact sport compared to how it used to be when Diego was in his cups, so comparisons with Messi or Ronaldo are invidious.

RIP.

Haha you're not kidding. Hoddle gets absolutely flattened in the build up to Argentina's 2nd goal and the ref's response is basically 'lol, get up'

 

[Anil]

what a goal that was...

 

[Burgey]

Just a great, great player. RIP.

 

[Pothas]

what a goal that was...

I have probably seen it more than any other goal but still found myself watching it at least 10 times today.

I can also endlessly listen to Tim Vickery talking about it or more accurately him talking about Bryon Butler's commentary of it. 'Turns, like a little eel.' Incredible.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

An incredible player who lived the boyhood dream of using football to **** over all of his real and imagined enemies. Not only did he win games, but he won them in ways that his hated opponents could never mentally recover from, and hence he will live on in the ongoing bitter tweets of Peter Shilton.

RIP/WAFG.

This is an ATG post

 

[Uppercut]

I have probably seen it more than any other goal but still found myself watching it at least 10 times today.

I can also endlessly listen to Tim Vickery talking about it or more accurately him talking about Bryon Butler's commentary of it. 'Turns, like a little eel.' Incredible.

Such great commentary.

 

[Furball]

Got round to watching the Maradona film last night - some of it was quite an uncomfortable watch. The footage from the Napoli Christmas Party in 1990 was just painful, and there's so many scenes where you can tell he really wasn't comfortable with the adulation he received in Naples.

I wonder how like and his career would have panned out if he'd left Napoli after the 1989 UEFA Cup final like he wanted.

edit: also speaks volumes for the guy's talent that he scored 16 goals to lead Napoli to the Scudetto in 1990 despite basically spending the 2nd half of every week recovering from the bender he went on in the first half.