Diego Armando Maradona
Much is known about Diego Armando Maradona. During his life, more than anything in countries where soccer is popular, news about him always attracted attention beyond what was strictly sports. There is audiovisual material about Diego to enjoy again, from his genius with the ball to events with other world personalities of the time that can be found on the networks. In addition to films filmed by prestigious filmmakers. This certainly didn't happen with other celebrities of the modern era. Having so much material available, this chronicle focuses on detailing some of his steps through the city of Buenos Aires.
Diego was born on October 30, 1960 at the Evita hospital in Lanús Oeste, circumstantially. He was the fifth of eight children, and the first boy, from the marriage between Diego Maradona (1927-2015) and Dalma Salvadora "Tota" Franco (1930-2011). His brothers Raúl and Hugo were also soccer players. His family, originally from Esquina, province of Corrientes, was settled in Villa Fiorito, district of Lomas de Zamora, a town located in the first cordon of the southern area of the Buenos Aires suburbs.
Diego debuted in the Argentinos Juniors first team on October 20, 1976 against Talleres de Córdoba. He signed his first contract in 1977. In 1976, Diego and his family went to live in a PH at 2747 Argerich Street in the Villa del Parque neighborhood, but since it was about 20 blocks from the Argentinos Juniors club, the club gave him another house located at 2257 Lascano Street in the Paternal neighborhood, where Diego, his parents, his brothers Hugo and Rául and some of his five sisters, went to live in 1978. The house has windows on the front and the walls are of ground stone mixed with glass, typical of the area of low houses. They lived in this house until 1980. Currently there is a museum that can be visited.
During that stage of his life, Diego meets Claudia Villafañe. In the book “I am Diego”, by Daniel Arcucci and Ernesto Cherquis Bialo, Diego said: "I was already installed in the little house on Argerich Street, with my whole family. It was a typical neighborhood house, horizontal property. We lived In the back and in front was the Villafañe family: Don Coco, taxi driver and Argentinos fan, Doña Pochi, housewife, and Claudia. I think we started looking at each other from the first day, when I settled there, in October of '76." . But the meeting took place a few blocks from the address they shared and a few months after they met. On June 28, 1977, at a dance at the Social and Deportivo Parque, Diego kicked the penalty. "We both knew that we were spying on each other, so as soon as I nodded at her, she accepted. Right, just at the moment we started dancing, they played the song “Yo te proponego”, by Roberto Carlos. Spectacular! It saved me all the words, that I just didn't have enough of. From then on, from that exact moment, we are El Diego and La Claudia," quote the authors of the book. Maradona and Villafañe married on November 7, 1989, at a large party held at the Luna Park stadium, located at Eduardo Madero 470 in the San Nicolás neighborhood of the City of Buenos Aires.
Diego had a devotion to food. One of his favorite foods was pizza. According to what he said in one of his interviews, when he was a kid and played for Argentinos Juniors, he got paid for the first time and told his mother: “Let's go eat pizza.” The murmurs of that moment still live in New Pompeya. They then went to the “La Rumba” pizzeria, located at Avenida Sáenz 963 in the Pompeya neighborhood, a place he frequented while transferring buses. Another anecdotal scene was when Maradona fell into the “El Cuartito” pizzeria located at Talcahuano 937 in Barrio Norte, with his then manager Guillermo Coppola. It was half past ten at night and they were hungry. So they leaned on the bar and ate, standing and between the two of them, 26 slices of pizza. Maradona accompanied them with Moscato, Coppola with white wine.
During the early nineties and after returning to playing football, after a suspension in Seville, Diego returned to Buenos Aires. Diego's most complex years began, and his refuge was the seventh floor on the corner of Segurola and La Habana Avenues, in the Villa Devoto neighborhood. For his fans, this is the place where he says he is waiting for Julio César Toresani to continue the “conversation” after a dispute that arose during a match between Boca Juniors and Colón de Santa Fé. In the building, the apartments are 300 square meters, divided into five rooms, each with an en-suite bathroom and have two parking spaces.
In 1997, after another suspension for doping, he abandoned football, on October 30, exactly the day of his 37th birthday.
On November 2, 2020, he was hospitalized for anemia and depression, and underwent surgery to correct a subdural hematoma in his head. Finally, Maradona died on the morning of November 25, 2020 at the age of 60, in his residence located in Dique Luján, Tigre district, due to cardiac decompensation that caused lung edema.
His death caused a great commotion in Argentina and in the world, perhaps we had become a little accustomed to Diego rising again, to being immortal. But his legacy in the history of Argentine and world football will be eternal.
In 2021, the series "Maradona: Blessed Dream" premiered. The content of the story shown in the series was authorized by Diego Armando Maradona himself. Below is the trailer for it:
References:
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/lifestyle/claudia-mujer-perfil-bajo-fue-verdadero-sosten-nid2521688/
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Maradona
10/2021
