Diego - The Opposition
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— 3 hours agoDiego Armando Maradona was born on October 30th, 1960. Today’s episode of Internazionale Morning Club looks back at an incident from one of his visits to Appiano Gentile
Santa Maradona, priez por moi.
San Maradona, prega per me.
Folk singer Manu Chao (born José Manuel Arturo Tomás Chao Ortega) captured the perfect tribute to Diego Armando Maradona in song. Born in Lanús on October 30th, 1960, Maradona was a man of contradictions: almost saintly, yet deeply flawed. A champion like no other.
While managing Argentina, Maradona visited Inter’s training ground, La Pinetina. Inter were preparing for a Coppa Italia match against Genoa and were staying at the training centre, where he spent some time catching up with his friend José Mourinho. He also gave an interview to Inter Channel with a young reporter who had little experience and just enough youthful recklessness to ask the greatest of them all for an interview. As we know, Diego wasn’t someone who said “no” very often.
“Without a doubt, yes. Absolutely. With all due respect to Napoli fans, who have always been and will always remain in my heart, I believe I would have been an Inter player if Moratti had been president.”
Maradona at Inter: the ultimate what if. Fellow Inter fan Enrico Ruggeri even built a great TV show around the idea, Cosa sarebbe successo se (What If). Messi, Maradona, Pelé, Falcao, Platini, Cristiano Ronaldo - all names linked to transfer rumours that, for one reason or another, never came to fruition. Maradona was a rival, the greatest rival we ever had. He took the Scudetto away from the record-breaking Inter side, who had to overcome some formidable opposition in Serie A at its peak: Baggio’s Fiorentina, Vialli and Mancini’s Sampdoria, Laudrup’s Juventus, the Dutch stars of AC Milan and, of course, Maradona’s Napoli.
Maradona and Lothar Matthäus also faced each other in two consecutive World Cup finals. Each came away with an epic victory. Over the years, Maradona’s name became synonymous with excellence, talent and flair, always standing on the opposite side of order and power. A genius of opposition, in a way only he could be. He had no press officer or manager in the conventional sense, and he never allowed anyone else to speak on his behalf.
Maradona could have played for Inter. Instead, he played for Napoli, Barcelona, Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Sevilla and Newell’s Old Boys. He played for Argentina.
But above all, fortunately, Maradona, or rather, Santa Maradona, belonged to everyone.