Diego Armando Maradona is an enigma. There are entire generations of people that support Argentina because of this man. Despite the fact that internationally, Argentina are nowhere near the likes of Brazil, Germany and Italy, most of the Indian subcontinent don the sky blue of Argentina during the World Cups. And there is only one man responsible for this: Diego Maradona.
The Argentine, it is claimed, single-handedly won his team the World Cup in 1986 – which was a time when the previous generation was growing up – and as a result, earned himself and his team millions of fans. And the effect of it can still be witnessed today. Maradona was a magician with the ball at his feet – one of the best ever, if not the best – but apart from that, he is perhaps the worst among all the football legends. The things he says and does outside the pitch is something that can’t be neglected and here are 5 instances that prove why he is the worst football legend ever…
5 Criticising Messi for retiring
After losing three finals in a row, Messi had had enough and decided to announce retirement from international football. He did, however, make a comeback after a few months, much to the relief of Argentina fans.
Diego Maradona, meanwhile, wasn’t pleased. The former Argentina captain suggested that the whole act could have been staged while also adding that the reaction of Messi was uncalled for since he was not the one to be blamed for the loss.
“I don’t know whether this was staged to make us understand that he’d lost three finals, but we never lost by big margins.
This might have been the general consensus among many people, but the fact that an Argentine icon like Diego Maradona used the opportunity to throw dirt at Messi even before the wounds had healed just goes on to show the kind of man that he is – someone who does everything to steal the limelight.
4 Showing the finger
This one is among the recent ones. Argentina needed a win against Nigeria to qualify for the round of 16. While the Argentine players were giving their all on the pitch, Maradona was backing them from the stands.
Then Messi scores and Maradona goes berserk, almost as though he has been possessed by a djinn. Nigeria equalized and he was visibly upset. After a while, he was caught sleeping on camera – and it was later revealed that he needed medical attention.
3 Kicking a fan
Maradona has a short temper. It is very easy to get on the nerves of the Argentine World Cup-winning legend, which in turn makes him do something barely believable. One such incident happened during his time at Al Wasl, a club from Dubai, when he was getting his photo clicked in front of a poster that read ‘Te Amo Benja’ – or, ‘I love you Benja [Benjamin, his grandson]’.
2 Slapping a journo
Maradona’s psychotic behaviour doesn’t end in the last slide – or in this one, for that matter – as controversy and Maradona walk hand-in-hand. This video reveals another thing about him: that he is very sensitive about his girlfriends.
When a journalist did something as trivial as winking at his girlfriend, Maradona walked up to him to ask him what was wrong and then seemingly slapped him for his supposed audacity. This is just another instance of a grown man – who is supposedly a revered figure in one of the greatest sports of all time – behaving like a street kid.
1 Blasting England
There is a reason why there is a sentiment of dislike towards Maradona from the English. After all the Argentina legend scored a goal using his hand against England in the 1986 World Cup and later had the audacity to name it as the ‘Hand of God’, something which perhaps may have coated the fact that he cheated to make Argentina win the World Cup that year.
And as if that incident wasn’t enough of a reason for the English people to dislike Maradona, the Argentine has provided them with more fuel to light up the embers and burn the whole place down.