A Love story that transcends time and death: Diego Maradona and Napoli

The Awakening

The year was 1982. 

A tiny-looking Argentine footballer entered Europe to play for Spanish giants, FC Barcelona. With sublime footballing skills and abilities, he had been a highly-anticipated player since his entry into Europe. He scored 11 goals and provided 10 assists for his teammates in the 1982-83 LaLiga. He also won the Spanish Super Cup with Barcelona in the same season. However, things quickly took a turn for the worse.

It was the player's second season with Barcelona in 1984, but the Barca club officials were already running out of patience with this ever-rebellious, self-driven player. His consistent proneness to injuries also led him to become an unwanted liability to the Barcelona bosses. Despite the contract, he was almost certain to leave the club at the end of the 1983-84 season. 

During this time of turbulence off the pitch, an incident on the pitch added fuel to the fire for him. In a heated match against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey final, both teams got into a fight and the tiny Argentine knocked out Bilbao goalkeeper Miguel Sola by kicking him down. He was sentenced to a three-month ban following this incident. 

The distance between him and the club was growing, and he felt a growing excitement to head out. By that point, though, he had already established himself as one of the world’s best footballers, showcasing his incredible skills on the field. Naturally, he had many lucrative offers from many top European clubs. But the rebellious Argentine made an unconventional decision to play for Napoli, a club located in Naples, a city in the far south of Italy.

Little did the Argentine know, that by opting to play for Napoli, he would literally be enthroned as a God by the people of Naples. He was destined to become a Messiah for the people, embodying their hopes and dreams. 

In July 1984, the City of Naples welcomed the tiny-looking Argentine named Diego Armando Maradona. The greatest chapter in Napoli's football history began in this way, igniting the hopes of the people of a city that was shrouded in darkness at that time. 

The light of life

It was Antonio Juliano, Napoli's Sporting Director at that time who himself traveled to Spain to discuss Maradona's transfer with Barca and he made it possible. After the negotiation was over, Diego signed for Napoli for a record £6m fee. It is said that Barcelona's board demanded £5m and an extra fee at the end of the negotiation, and that extra fee was paid by the funds raised by the people of Naples! 

Even before Maradona set foot in the city, it was clear that the citizens had already begun to see him as a beacon of hope, almost like a savior in their eyes.

The reason behind Naples' citizens finding great hope in Maradona's arrival was not only Napoli's disastrous performance in the Serie A. The city and the areas surrounding Naples faced significantly more challenges than other parts of Italy during that time. The city continued to survive under the passive control of Italian mafia groups, leading to widespread poverty, high unemployment, and organized crimes.

Born and raised in a poor family in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Maradona did not find much difference between the two cities. He found his sense of home in Naples. In his post-signing interview, Maradona said:

"I want to become the idol of the poor children of Naples because they are like I was when I lived in Buenos Aires." 

Naples was in a tumultuous situation and so was the Club Napoli, the lifeblood of the city. Since its foundation in 1926, Napoli faced a challenging journey up until 1984, with no Scudetto (the Italian league title) and they narrowly avoided relegation in two back-to-back seasons in Serie A. 

In his debut match in the Seria A against Hellas Verona in Verona, Maradona's Napoli side had to hear the sarcastic chants of 'Lavatevi, Lavatevi', meaning 'wash yourselves'. Verona fans from the wealthy city of Verona mocked that Naples is for the poor; Napoli represents the club of the underprivileged. That is why they said 'Clean yourselves'. Although those arrogant supporters did not understand that day, how hard Maradona was going to hit their arrogance.

However, Napoli finished eighth in the 1984-85 season, which was a much better result than their last few years. Ottavio Bianchi became the new manager of Napoli in 1985. In the 1985-86 season, Napoli finished third in Serie A. Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986, took Napoli to the desired success in the 1986-87 season. Naples erupted in celebration after Napoli secured its first Scudetto with a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina. The festival lasted for a week, and Maradona shone like an angel in the lives of the people of Naples.

In the same season, Napoli won the Coppa Italia, defeating Atalanta 4–0 on aggregate in the final. In 1989, Napoli won the UEFA Cup by beating VFB Stuttgart 2–1, 3–3, the first European trophy in Napoli's history. Napoli won the Scudetto for the second time in 1990 and the hero behind all these was the lover of Naples, Diego Maradona!

However, the sun, though it ascends, must inevitably set. The last few years of Maradona's career in Italy, who became a God-like figure in Naples, proved the truth that there is always darkness under the bright lights that blind our eyesight.

The fall

The wealth in Naples was a strong lure for him, as he hailed from a poor family in Argentina. Maradona fought poverty since his childhood and that is why the wealth he amassed from fame and football led him to the wrong ways. Maradona became the favourite of Carmine Giuliano, the kingpin of the Giuliano family which was the biggest mafia clan in Naples at the time. Carmine made Maradona addicted to cocaine and other drugs, several partners, luxury cars, and gifts. 

In 1988, Napoli had the power to bankrupt the Camorra family, the football-centric gambling lords, as they came close to winning the league. Strangely, Napoli dropped points in the last five matches, and AC Milan were the champions for the 1987-88 season. It was suspicion for everyone but the message came directly to the players. Maradona's car was vandalized and his teammate Salvatore Bagni's house was robbed twice. 

But a football match added fuel to the fire for Maradona in Italy as well just like it did for him in Spain. Argentina faced Italy in the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and the match was held at Napoli's home ground, Stadio San Paolo! In that match, Maradona scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out to take Argentina to the final, in front of the fans who showered him with love since he set foot on Italian soil.

From then on, even the Napoli fans started to think of him as a villain. The hero was ignored and in fact, the entire Naples was in a near-riot situation at that time. After failing a drug test in March 1991, Maradona was banned from football for 15 months. Most of the Napoli fans turned their face away from their 'Dios' and the beloved legend of Napoli left the city almost silently in 1992. He left behind a unique story of an intense love for football entwined with human emotions.

And the rest  

Maradona returned to Spain in 1992 to play for LaLiga side Sevilla but he was way beyond his prime at that time. Maradona finally said good-bye to football in 1997. Maradona passed away on  25th November 2020 and today is his 64th birth anniversary.

However, the club of his heart did not break his heart anymore. Napoli officially renamed San Paolo to Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in 2020 after Maradona passed away. Napoli won their first Scudetto in 33 years in the 2022-23 season and the city did not let Maradona die in the league-winning celebrations as well with his photos and wearing his jersey marked with 'Maradona 10'. 

How can a city forget someone whose name is synonymous with faith in God, whose photo is placed between the photos of Jesus and Mother Mary in almost every shop in the city, whose legacy is painted in the forms of murals and graffiti on almost every wall of the city?

That is why he is gone but never forgotten. The people of the city of Naples still shower their love for Maradona, the tiny-looking Argentine who once took them out of darkness and gave them the lights of life.