“If I were Maradona, I would live like him”Manu Chao sings in one of the most beautiful lyrics of the many that have been created about Diego. And perhaps the best example to live like him is the most supportive and humane side of the Ten. Gestures he made without intending to be a media boom or to appear on the covers of newspapers. In silence, Maradona was always there whenever someone in need asked him without setting any kind of conditions and risking his own privileges.
These six anecdotes They are simply a small portion of everything he contributed throughout his 60 years but they serve to reflect that profile of the former footballer, perhaps the most beautiful off the field.
GESTURE WITH A CHILD IN RUSSIA
In recent days, it was Gastón Recondo who revived an old anecdote that he starred with Maradona in the definition for the 2006 Davis Cup between Argentina and Russia that was played in Moscow. The final, which was played at the Olimpiski stadium in the Russian capital, had Marat Safín and Nicolay Davydenko on one side, while the most outstanding Argentine racket was David Nalbandian.
In a series that was sentenced in the fifth point of the hand of Safin, the locals celebrated the obtaining of the Silver Salad Bowl, but Diego had an attitude with a child on the outskirts of the enclosure. With freezing temperatures, Maradona helped a little boy who was selling on the street.
“In Moscow, the 2006 Davis Cup final, a whole contingent left the stadium in a bus and Diego was there. And we stopped at the entrance to Red Square. There was a little boy outside, it was cold, it was December, 10 degrees below zero. Six-year-old, Russian and in Moscow … We all went down and Diego stayed up because the bus was going to the hotel and he was not going down because he was not going to do two meters. The baby offered us, I don’t know what he was selling … Someone bought him, another followed along. The baby stopped looking at those of us who were getting off and stayed like this: ‘Maradona’. Six years! Russian, 2006. He wanted to go up, one of security didn’t let him and Diego said: ‘No, go up.’ The baby hugged him, and asked him ‘what do you have there? Well, give me everything ‘He grabbed money and said’ go to your house ‘”, recounted Recondo in Controversy at the Bar of America TV.
FINANCIAL AID TO TARANTINI
Diego Maradona’s death caused most of the players who shared his career with him to come out to talk and tell what it was like to share a field or an encounter in private life with the world soccer star.
This was the case of Alberto Tarantini. The Rabbit, World Champion with the National Team in the 1978 World Cup, recounted the gesture that Pelusa had with him when he was going through a bad economic time. What did the Ten do? He paid the school to the children of the remembered former player who wore River’s shirt.
“At one point I had a financial problem. I had no money, I couldn’t pay for the boys’ school and he came, with Claudio, and they gave me the money to be able to pay it. The respect and affection and love that I felt for him is enormous, ”said Tarantini in dialogue with TyC Sports.
A HOME FOR PEDRITO IN TRES ARROYOS
Beyond having been one of the best footballers to ever play this sport, the world of football will forever remember the supportive version of Maradona. Diego was capable of going to play in little-known places to lend a hand to someone in need. And so it happened with Pedro Brendell, a man with Down syndrome what, Thanks to the historic number 10 of the Argentine national team, he got a home to live in for the rest of his days.
On February 27, 1992, in Tres Arroyos, Maradona got involved in a party to benefit “Let’s walk together”, a help center for disabled children. He formed a team with the friends he had made at Balneario Marisol, the place he chose to seclude himself after doping in Italy, and even scored a goal. With more than seven thousand people, the Ten He helped get the collection that helped the entity buy the house where his friend Pedro lived.
“What we awaken in people is very important, sensitivity. To be able to sensitize everyone, to go to the stadium and help these people … Because they really do it from the heart, here there are no interests, as people who use you often have. There are people here who work for kids who can’t walk, There are people who work for the disabled, who many times we think are different from us, but it is not true. With our help we can make them just like us …“Said a Maradona moved to tears at the dinner that took place after the meeting.
MARADONA BUSTED TO SAVE A CHILD’S LIFE
Perhaps it is one of the most iconic images of Maradona with the Napoli jersey. And it wasn’t at the San Paolo. Nor was it one of those magical conquests against Juventus or Milan, their rivals from the North. Before being world champion with Argentina, in 1985, Diego went to Acerra, a city near Naples to play a charity match.
How was the story? Pietro PuzoneDiego’s companion in Napoli, he learned the story of a local man who had a seriously ill son. In front of this scenario, the footballer asked the then president of the club Corrado Ferlaino set up a charity party with the presence of Maradona to raise funds, but the boss denied it since months ago he had paid about 8 million dollars to incorporate the Ten on your campus.
Despite Ferlaino’s refusal, Maradona traveled to the city and faced Acerrano, the whole of the town, with his team. In the middle of winter, and the day after playing Lazio in Serie A, the Argentine star led his team to a resounding 4-0 victory. But beyond the victory, what remained of the story was that Diego played a game on a muddy court in the same way as if it had been an official match by the Football italiano. He was energetic, encouraged his teammates and, according to legend, he even scored a goal similar to the one he would achieve at the Azteca stadium in Mexico against England a year later.
Although the benefit meeting was attended by Diego, the father of the child who had to be operated on did not get all the necessary money. What did Maradona do? He put the rest of his pocket.
THE DAY A CHILD’S DREAM FULFILLED IN DUBAI
Ali Turganbekov is a Kazakh boy who had the opportunity to fulfill the dream of playing with Maradona. The young man who was born without his lower limbs Due to suffering from tetraamelia syndrome, a rare disease that causes multiple malformations, she met Diego in 2018.
At that time, Pelusa worked at the head of the Fujairah FC of the United Arab Emirates. Ali entered the stadium turf during training, dressed as a goalkeeper and blocked some shots from the former Argentine team captain. Then, both formed an offensive pair and kicked against a friend of the young Asian.
“Today I was playing for a while with my friend Ali, who came to visit me at Fujairah training. Thank you for your example of improvement “, Diego then wrote in his account Instagram, where he shared images and videos of the meeting with a ball lover who later also got to know Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
THE DAY THAT SAVED PEDRO MONZÓN
Pedro Damian Monzón was a historic defender of Independiente who was part of the Argentine squad that achieved the world runner-up in Italy 90. What’s more, the strong central marker scored the only goal for the team of Carlos Salvador Bilardo in the match against Romania for the opening phase of the World Cup and then saw the red for a kick in the final against Germany.
Several years ago, Monzón confessed that he went through a dark stage in his life. That led him, on several occasions, to think about taking his own life. But there was an opportunity in which, with a gun in his hand, he called Maradona waiting for the historic number 10 of the national team to help him. What happened? Diego appeared to save him.
“In a difficult moment, in which I was thinking about taking my life, with a gun in my hand I thought ‘I’m going to call Diego, if he doesn’t come, I’ll take my life.’ At the time he was giving me a hug, but I never dared to say the promise I made because otherwise I would have grabbed onto the pineapples. I knew that he always felt a lot of affection for me, “said the former player in dialogue with TyC Sports the day it was known that Maradona had died.
“I said ‘Diego, I need to see you.’ He asked me how I was doing, I told him more or less and he realized right away that something was wrong “added Monzón, who at the same time confirmed that he did not fire Maradona, because he will always be present.
“I love Maradona with all my soul, I knew him a lot and I know the quality of person he was and that no one could discuss what he was as a footballer. Many of our colleagues were fortunate to know him as a person and not only enjoy what he did in football, ”concluded Moncho.
Pumpido told the particular tribute to Maradona that occurred to him at the wake: “I would have liked to put the glass inside the drawer”
Ariel Ortega recalled the deep bond he had with Maradona: “When I wasn’t well he called me, that’s why I love him so much”
