Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona
Soccer fans and pundits alike will always include the name of Diego Armando Maradona when talking about the greatest player to grace a football pitch. Born in 1960 in Buenos Aires Argentina, Diego is without doubt, one of the best talents to be witnessed in soccer history; an accomplishment of sheer skills and talent mixed with controversy. His, is a fairy tale story of a boy raised in a struggling family, and rose to be a star in an epic soccer career.
Diego is the best Maradona began his football career in his native Argentina playing for Argentino’s juniors from 1976 to 1981. During this period, Diego had missed out a chance to play at the 1978 World Cup where Argentina won the tournament despite scoring over 100 goals.

Drug abuse was a major undoing to his reputation. It did reflect significantly on his achievements to a point where it was the basis of his dismissal by critics, as the game all time best player. His first big money move to Barcelona appeared to be massive on the then young Maradona as it’s where his drub abuse problems begun. Cocaine use became part of his flashy lifestyle and its addiction would later lead to his disgrace and downfall. Disputes with the club directors led to an unsettled era with the club before joining Napoli. It is in Italy that his drug problems escalated with his association with drug mafia families damaging his already bad reputation. In 1991, Maradona was suspended for 15 months after a failed drug test where he tested positive for cocaine. The 1994 world cup was however, the final blow to his glittering career. Having won a spot in the national team side to the world cup, Maradona was expelled from the tournament for failing yet another drug

With an enormous talent to become the game’s most loved and best player, controversial stints dented his career leaving a rather sour taste in football admirers. In his first world cup, Maradona was sent off for an ugly tackle after being frustrated by Brazil’s defence. The reigning champions campaign coming to a rather quick end. His first goal against England in 1986 word cup could be termed as a moment of ingenious by fans. However, to professionals, it was nothing but a dubious goal. The use of a hand to score at the football biggest stage spoke a lot about his character and his post match comments only added salt to injury, especially to England’s supporters. His off the pitch controversies didn’t help much in repairing his diminishing football status. He had peculiar choices stemming from his association with drug families to being friends to infamous people and leaders like then Cuba’s President Fidel Castro. Castro, a figure associated largely to the drug trafficking networks of the Caribbean’s and America, was ironically Maradona host during his 15 month drug abuse