Maradona has often vied to be considered the best footballer in history with Pele. However most people agree that while Maradona had prodigious talents his behaviour off the field often left a lot to be desired,and his constant battle against drug addiction made him far from the comparatively «squeaky clean» character that Pele was during and after his twenty plus years at the top of the game during the fifties, sixties and seventies.
Like Pele, Maradona came from a very humble background in the slums of Buenos Aires. Yet despite that his prodigious talent as a footballer was there for all to see, and by the age of sixteen he was banging goals in from every angle for his local club, Argentinos Juniors. Such was his dramatic impact that there was even mention that he should be «shoed in» to the 1978 World Cup Squad even before his 18th birthday.
That was not to be, but he did make his full international debut not long after, and achieved his childhood dream of pulling on the famous dark blue and yellow soccer uniform of Boca Juniors in 1981, when he had just turned 21.
However news of Maradona’s prodigious talents has reached Europe. After just a season at Boca, there is a lot of irony involved as he was snapped up by Basque giants Barcelona, just as Messi was more than twenty years later. Yet his career and his stay at Barcelona were less than successful. Maradona was the victim of very tight marking and crude tackles, with one of them ending with Diego with his leg in plaster for several months. Rumour has it that it was In Barcelona that Maradona began to experiment with drugs, casting a shadow over his career for many years after he left the club and the city.
Both Barcelona and Maradona were relieved when the club agreed to his transfer 1984 to Napoli in Italy’s Serie A. At Napoli everything fell into place for Diego and it was there that he finally realised his potential. For about six seasons, everything that Maradona touched turned to Gold.
Napoli won their first Serie an Italian Championships in 1986/87 and again in 1989/1990, and was also runners up twice. In addition they won the UEFA Cup in 1989.
Maradona was unstoppable at the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, and he certainly used everything in his repertoire to make sure that he would get to hold up the World Cup. Maradona also made it to the final with Argentina in Italy four years later, where they lost by the only goal to a typically stodgy West Germany.
USA 1994 saw Diego and his career in decline and after failing a drug test for ephedrine doping; FIFA expelled him from the tournament.
After serving a 15-month ban for failing a drug test, Maradona had already left Napoli in disgrace by 1992, after that he did the rounds of a few secondary clubs and by 1995 at the age of 35 his career was officially over, although he had lost his magic around five seasons earlier.
A football talent that could not be denied, Maradona allowed his personal problems to take a lot of the edge of his career. When the final judgement comes down to who was the best footballer ever to grace the World Cup, there is no escaping that fact.