Diego Maradona, Argentine football legend, has died at the age of 60.
Maradona, who underwent surgery earlier in the month, was said to have suffered a cardiac arrest at home on Wednesday.
Maradona is widely considered one of the best players of all time, where his highs resulted in World Cup victories and a remarkable Serie A title for Napoli.
Born 1960 in the Villa Fiorito area of Buenos Aires, Maradona, described football as his “salvation” which helped him to raise his family out of poverty before leaving for a world record transfer fee to Barcelona in 1982.
After being ravaged by injuries at the Catalan club, he was signed by Napoli.
During his time at Napoli, he almost singlehandedly guided the club to it’s first ever Serie A title, followed that up with its second a year later, then won the UEFA Cup, before leading Argentina to a World Cup final over West Germany in 1986.
BATTLE WITH DRUGS
He had a battle with drug addiction during his playing career.
Speaking to news outlet Infobae, the ex-Napoli ace revealed that he knew from experience that drugs have infiltrated all parts of Argentinian society.
“Don’t think that only that the kid scraping the barrel takes drugs. In Argentina there are people who take drugs who are from good stock. I know because I’ve taken drugs with them,” he had said.
“I don’t think I am judged for my past but you know what happens? In Argentina there are a lot of masks, a lot of them. And all those who are getting rich are also full of cocaine too.
“They could say a lot of things, but since I got over the illness (addiction) 15 years ago, they talk about doping.
“I want to explain that when I was taking drugs, it was a step backwards and what a footballer has to do is move forwards. Everything stopped because of my daughters, I came (to Mexico) to work.”
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