Days after the first anniversary of Maradona’s death is celebrated, Barcelona and Boca Juniors, two of the clubs in which Diego knew how to shine will play in his tribute to the Maradona Cup, to be played on December 14 at Mrsool Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This was announced by the culé team itself on their social networks.
Of course, once the Cup was made official, the doubt broke into social networks, from the question of many fans. Why don’t Napoli, an institution that Pelusa led to glory and where he had many of the best moments of his career, not participate? What hides the absence of the Italian cast in the recognition-match?
Actually, Napoli was invited to participate in the tournament. But economic interests prevailed. The Spanish firm RG Consultant & Sport Solutions SL met in Naples on August 31 with Aurelio de Laurentiis, president of Azzurri. And there they talked about the possibility of a mini tournament honoring Maradona’s name: the Italian cast would have shown enthusiasm for the project. But when it came to agreeing on the numbers, the differences were stark.
According to European media, Napoli would have demanded 5,000,000 euros tax-free (plus expenses for private plane transfers and accommodation), in addition to sharing the television rights, something that was rejected by the Spanish company, which in its curriculum shows the organization of international football matches such as the homage to Nelson Mandela in South Africa with the confrontation between Barcelona and Mamelodi Sundowns, or the friendly Argentina-Brazil in Riyadh In 2019, the Argentine national team won 1-0 with a goal from Messi.
Consequently, Barcelona and Boca did accept the offer and will be in charge of evoking Diego with the football contest, which was approved by Sattvica, the company that manages the image rights of the world champion in Mexico 1986. In the stadium, with capacity for 25,000 spectators, the presence of the sisters of the star is expected.
While both clubs already know what it is to play against each other, This will be the first time they have met in a Middle Eastern country. The last time they saw each other was on August 15, 2018, when the Argentine team traveled to Barcelona to contest the Joan Gamper trophy (a friendly duel that Barsa has organized since 1966 before each season start).
At that time, the cast directed by Guillermo Barros Schelotto fell 3-0. The scorers that afternoon were the Brazilian Malcom (14 minutes), Lionel Messi (39) and Rafinha Alcántara (67). At that time, Ernesto Valverde was in command of the squad blaugrana.
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Maradona wore the Boca Juniors shirt in two stages. The first in 1981 at the age of 21, from Argentinos Juniors (he won the Metropolitan tournament) and the second, in what was his return to the institution in 1995, where he played two more seasons before ending his career as a footballer.
He stayed in Barcelona for two seasons: 1982/83 and 1984/85. There he played 58 games and won three titles (King’s Cup, League Cup and the Spanish Super Cup) before going to Napoli in Italy.
In the Azzurri, for example, he played seven seasons, taking him to the top, which until then was almost exclusively owned by the Northern clubs. He won two Scudetto, an Italian Cup, a local Super Cup and the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League). His imprint persists even in the name of the stadium. But Napoli will not be part of their tribute tournament.
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