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Lionel Messi (r.) Celebrated his goal for Diego Maradona
Photo: David Ramos / Getty Images
The Haka dance, several minutes of mourning and a very special Messi goal: athletes, clubs and national teams around the world paid tribute to the late Diego Maradona over the weekend.
Shortly after Maradona's death on November 25th, many had expressed their grief and thought of perhaps the best footballer in history.
For the weekend, however, a few more special awards were planned.
Lionel Messi created a very special moment for Diego Maradona.
In the 4-0 win of his FC Barcelona against CA Osasuna, Messi scored the fourth goal, took off his shirt and showed a shirt from his Argentinean home club Newell's Old Boys with the number 10 underneath. From 1993 to 1994 Maradona had played for the club.
But Messi's hit itself was reminiscent of Maradona's time in Rosario.
Shortly after the game, videos on Twitter showed that Maradona had once scored a similar goal for the Old Boys: With the ball on his foot, he dribbles towards the penalty area, shoots with his left and the ball hits at a right angle - that's how it now met Messi versus Osasuna.
Messi then posted a photo of his cheer pose in Newell's jersey on Instagram next to a photo of Maradona - also with hands raised - in the 1993 dress of the Rosario club. "Hasta siempre, Diego," wrote Messi.
Naples commemorates Maradona
Maradona was loved not only in Argentina, but also in
Naples
.
Maradona celebrated his greatest successes at the SSC.
The club commemorated Maradona in the Serie A game against AS Roma on Sunday with "Argentinian" special jerseys.
The jerseys had blue and white vertical stripes in the traditional design of the Argentine national team.
Before kick-off, Naples captain Lorenzo Insigne laid a wreath of flowers in front of a large picture of Maradona on the main portal of the local San Paolo stadium.
The stadium will soon be named after Maradona.
Signes captain's armband read “Adios 10” in memory of Maradona's shirt number.
The game was interrupted in the tenth minute, with players and officials from both teams applauding for a long time.
Before kick-off, both teams thought Maradona with a minute's silence.
The pictures of the awards
Naples won 4-0 and Italian newspapers raved about the SSC.
»In the name of Maradona: Napoli dances a tango with the› Argentinian ‹jersey and brings great joy to the Vesuvius city after the days of mourning for Maradona.
Maradona is omnipresent in the stadium «, wrote the" Gazzetta dello Sport ".
And the Corriere dello Sport wrote: “Diego illuminates Naples while the energetic Romans collapse.
The evening is entirely dedicated to Maradona, who inspires the Neapolitans. "
more on the subject
Football quiz: How well do you know Diego Maradona? By Marco Fuchs
Tactical analysis: 90 minutes with Diego MaradonaBy Danial Montazeri
On the death of Diego Maradona: The greatness and the tragedy An obituary by Peter Ahrens
Haka for Maradona
Both before and after his time in Naples, Diego Maradona had played for the
Boca Juniors
in Buenos Aires.
They also remembered their idol in the 2-0 win against Newell's Old Boys.
Boca's players all had the name Maradona on the back of their shirts.
After the opening goal, the Boca players put an Argentina shirt with Maradona's shirt number 10 on the lawn and applauded in the direction of Maradona's box.
Dalma Maradona, Maradona's eldest daughter, sat there and wept.
But Maradona was not only remembered in football, also in rugby.
New Zealand's
players
donned a black jersey named Maradonas on Saturday night before their game against Argentina, then performed their iconic haka, a Maori war dance that is part of the rugby team's tradition.
"It was just a gesture, a token of respect for an Argentine legend, for a world legend in his field," said Captain Sam Cane.
Argentina's team had also thought Maradona, the football icon had often been a spectator at rugby games.
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ptz / dpa / sid / Reuters