Diego Maradona, the legendary Argentinian footballer, has died. He was 60 years old.
He died after suffering a heart attack, following brain surgery earlier this month. At the beginning of November he had complained about fatigue and low spirits. After being admitted to hospital a clot was found on his brain, which doctors removed. He was released from hospital to recover at home but suffered a heart attack on Wednesday morning.
Maradona was widely recognized as one of the world’s greatest-ever footballers.
Born into poverty in Buenos Aires in 1960, Maradona played 91 times for Argentina, scoring 34 goals, making his debut as a 17-year-old. He played in four World Cups for the country and led them to victory in the 1986 edition of the tournament, held in Mexico. That tournament was also notable for his performance in the quarter-final against England, where he scored both goals in a 2-1 victory. The first goal was the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal, where Maradona scored through an unnoticed handball. The second goal was scored after a 60m run by Maradona where he beat five English defenders.
Following his playing career he went into coaching, including coaching his former national team at the 2010 World Cup, held in South Africa.
Later in life he suffered from a number of financial and health problems, the latter brought on by drug and alcohol abuse. Nevertheless, he will be remembered as one of the greatest footballers, if not one of the greatest sportsmen, that has ever lived.
Image: Cadaverexquisito, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons