Do not cancel at 60: Maradona replaces prefix | Israel today

The insistence on returning to Boca Juniors, the inappropriate retirement and the constant struggle with drug addiction • Diego Armando Maradona will celebrate his 60th birthday tomorrow, while marking 23 years since he hung his shoes • Dor Hoffman recalls the last moments of the Argentine phenomenon on the grass

• Diego in the heyday.

  Swinging the World Cup

  Photography: 

  GettyImages

• Hovering to the hairdresser in heating

  Photography: 

  GettyImages

Diego Armando Maradona started his career and finished it on the exact same date.

On October 30, 1960, he was born in Viza Purito, Buenos Aires, with exceptional talent in his legs, and on October 30, 1997, he announced that this talent would no longer be on the football field. 

Tomorrow, then, Diego will celebrate his 60th birthday, and at the same time mark 23 years to the day he retired from acting.

And as befits Maradona, the great character he is, his ending was wonderful, special, bizarre and amazing, just like the beginning and middle.

So on the occasion of October 30, the founding date of his life, here is a reminder of the last days of actor Diego Armando Maradona.

The year was 1997. Carlos Menem was president of Argentina, the economic situation was not bad at all, and Boca Juniors stuttered in the league.

At the head of the team was Mauricio Casri, and in order to satisfy the frustrated fans what they wanted, he landed the big idol Maradona in Bombonera. 

Diego visiting Israel // Photo: Moshe Shai

But the Diego of those days was light years away from having starred in Napoli and the Argentina national team a decade earlier.

He ended up wanting an 18-month suspension for drug offenses, after trying his luck in racing and Mendijo without success during that time.

He then returned to play Boca, but the war on drugs overwhelmed him and in 1996 he admitted: "Drugs are everywhere and I do not want them to reach my childhood. I was, I still am and always will be addicted." 

Diego abandoned football, was hospitalized following high blood pressure, but was constantly determined to return to play one last time.

"I want to play Boca again, Boca is my life," he declared, and to do so sought a fitness coach who would agree to put him back in the groove.

Symbolically, this man was Ben Johnson, the 100-meter gold medalist from 1988, who was also caught with drug offenses. 

"I found in a friend a wounded man who wants to break free from his shame," said Diego, who traveled to Canada to work with the former sprinter.

This connection naturally brought with it quite a few reviews, but Maradona as usual was not moved: "I want to thank Johnson and tell all the Argentines to stop being idiots who believe everything that is said in the media about him."

The visit to Canada breathed life into Maradona, who returned to Boca like a bull released from a cage.

He dismantled the locker room door to put a treadmill in there, and walked around with an Austrian masseur and a Belgian fitness trainer.

Hector Vieria, who coached the team at the time, said: "Only boxing promoter Don King was missing from the entourage." 

Maradona hovers.

Thought he would play until age 40 // Photo: GettyImages

"An extraordinary person deserves an extraordinary solution"

Maradona was eager to prove he had changed, but old habits continued to haunt him.

At the end of a 2: 4 victory over Argentinos Juniors in his first game he was called for a drug test and came out positive.

again.

But this time, out of necessity, Argentina did everything to protect the star.

From President Carlos Menem, through Agent Guillermo Coppola to the association - the matter was silenced and Maradona came out of it claiming "non-uniformity in urine tests".

"An extraordinary man deserves an extraordinary solution," the mayor of Buenos Aires declared and the message was clear - Diego is the rating, the star, he will not end up like this.

When the track became vacant, Maradona was allowed to choose the way he would retire.

Unsurprisingly, he chose the biggest end - in the monumental, against the great rival River Plate. 

The game itself ended in a 1-2 draw for Boca without a big contribution from number 10, who was replaced in the second half by a talented boy named Juan Roman Riquelme.

At that time Maradona was better with his mouth than on his feet, and his game summary immediately entered the Pantheon: "Boca played like Boca and River like River. They were great in the first half, but in the second they did in the underwear." 

Diego was still toying with the idea of ​​extending his career until he was 40, but five days after that game, exactly on his 37th birthday, he announced it was over.

"With all the pain in the world, my moment has come to retire," he declared, "my days as a footballer are over."

Some thought it was another marketing ploy of the greatest of them all, but this time it was it.

The great fairy tale in the history of Argentine and world football has come to an end. 

Some would say that Maradona deserved a more fitting ending, but this shaky retirement is part of the round and fascinating figure he was.

A character who touched all corners of the game - good and bad, pure and dirty, cunning and genius, foot and hand.

And Diego, who went through everything during his career, knew it and took responsibility for it. 

In 2001, four years after his retirement, he summed it up perfectly when he said: "Football is the most important and healthiest sport in the world. I made mistakes, I paid, but the ball must not get dirty."

Maradona.

In Boca's stands of honor in 2008 // Photo: EP