Johny Espósito told how were the last hours of Diego Maradona: 'My uncle did not want to live'

02/02/2021 7:01 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 02/02/2021 7:01 AM

Johnny Espósito, son of María Rosa Maradona (one of Diego's sisters), gave his first public testimony after the death of his uncle, with whom he had a very close relationship, to the point that he spent the last hours next to the Ten and lived with him He expressed himself in very heartfelt tones in the program Vino para Vos on the KZO channel, to the point that he cried more than once during the report.

"This is just beginning, day to day, you see an image, you listen to the music that he listened to with him and you can't not remember it," he said.

Maradona died on November 25 and one of his most revealing phrases was when he remembered the last hours.

"The 24th was good, but he did not want to live, he did not allow himself to be helped. I do not know why he did not fight it as he always fought it. I think it may have been because he could no longer kick a ball," he recalled.

This phrase is in accordance with the testimonies given by Guillermo Coppola ("he gave himself up") and the cook Monona ("he got tired and said enough"). 

"On the 24th we did what we did every day, watch TV, a lot of football, mate and nothing. (...)

I felt that he no longer wanted more,

" he said.

And he explained: "For example, the fact of 'we are going to go out for a walk, even if it is to the patio', since he tells you no, it is because he did not want more."

"I tried to harangue, but when

he told me 'I've already lived 60 years and I deprived myself of many things and I don't want to continue like this

.

'

I don't know if he felt it (that he was going to die), but he was fucking telling you 'I lived to 60, I don't want more '(he repeated the phrase). But you don't think ... If I knew it was the last day I would sleep with him and I'll stay with him, "said Johnny.

"I lived with him. On the 24th at night, I say goodbye, I go to my room. The doctor was there, who takes all the pulses, the daily check-up. We said goodbye: 'See you tomorrow'. It will have been at eleven o'clock. of the night".

And he contributed about that night: "I don't remember much, now I have a knot. But we ate, we watched ... I don't know if Boca or Gymnastics had played. We talked about soccer."

In fact, they had played River, against Athletico Paranaense, and Racing, against Flamengo, for the Copa Libertadores.

"I was on the second floor, he was downstairs for comfort reasons, so as not to go up the stairs. I went to sleep," he said.

"I wake up between 9 and 10 in the morning. Low, breakfast and

guy 11 I think the doctors go and no longer ... he did not react."

"Actually, I can't speak much, but there are people who saw him (dead) before me (the doctors)," he clarified.

"

When I entered I was already dead. It must have been eleven thirty," he

explained.

"According to the nurse, he was hanging around the room, but I didn't hear him," Johnny said.

Remember: there were testimonies that indicated movements within the room that Diego occupies. 

"I think he did not suffer," he

sentenced.

And he recounted his reaction after Diego's death: "Actually ... I told my mother, or I told one of my brothers to let him know, I wanted to turn off the cell phone."

"There a million things happened to me. I said: 'This cannot be happening.' You did not want that moment to ever come," he added.

"Diego found it difficult to eat because he was down, not because of a problem," he said about the last few days.

Later, he recalled questions about Diego's personality.

"He lived for his parents, he always told it. His dream was to buy them a house" (...) He fell a lot when his parents died, "he said.

"Inside the bad I take the good of having lived ... He was a great guy," he said.

"He did not like you to cry. When I saw an image with him, I would go, I would cry and then I would come back," he revealed.

"He liked accolades, he went with one frame from each court and that was awesome," Johnny said.

And he contributed how Diego's last birthday was, on October 30, when he was recognized on the gymnastics court.

"Between emotions and a whole process ...

Actually I didn't like the last birthday very much because I didn't enjoy it as I had to

... I didn't want to remember much, then the hospitalization came ...".

When arguing why there was so much harmony between him and his uncle, he said: "I don't know what happened between us, he used to talk to me a lot, when I was little (...) I was born in '84 and in '86 I went to Italy. adoration of the people of Naples, I don't know if they don't want it more than in some places here. "

"At first it was screwed up to be Diego. Not being able to go out to buy shouldn't be easy. He

recently didn't want to be Maradona, he wanted to be Diego for a while. I asked him what you wanted to be if you're not Maradona and he told you 'go to the supermarket

. 'Something we do every day. It would kill you there, "he said.

"People were chasing him, to touch him, an autograph. But he was love," she said.

"My old woman made him a Paraguayan soup and he was happy. That was always what I liked about him, having everything and the guy with two things made him happy," he said.

"It bothered him to be rushed. He was waiting for you to tell you 'let's go'. He would get angry for two minutes and it would pass. In order for him to be angry with you, he had to be careful," Esposito recalled.

"With my mother Mary they were very close friends. They told anecdotes and did not stop laughing. There is an anecdote of when they went from station to station. My grandparents had given Diego money for the passage. They took it, ran, my uncle fell They were boys, ten years old. "

"I thought I had already cried everything but I keep crying," he said after a video of his mother praising him.

"I remember the humility of my grandfather, Chitoro," he cried when they showed him images of Diego's father.

During the broadcast, they showed him a picture of his uncle hugging him.

"I was working for a sports channel, he just started in gymnastics, and he got up to give me a kiss. I wanted to hide, but there was no way, he had eyes everywhere. Always one step ahead, in everything." 

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