Darling of the Neapolitans, Diego Maradona dazzled the whole of Italy when he arrived at Napoli from Barcelona. He was, arguably, the greatest player Serie A has ever known
Words: Giancarlo Rinaldi
Whenever Diego Armando Maradona goes to meet his maker he will certainly have a few stories to tell. Saint Peter had better pull up a comfortable chair at the pearly gates and prepare to hear a lengthy list of incredible tales. The lifetime of the little Argentine has never fallen far short of extraordinary.
His impact on world football has been tremendous, but his effect on the Italian game was positively seismic. He ripped up the unwritten rule that teams from south of Rome had no hope of winning the Scudetto. He took a club that had made an art form out of underachievement and turned it into a European heavyweight. By his mere presence he helped to ensure that Serie A became the undisputed best League in the world. In the process he won the undying love of an entire city.
The tale of Maradona’s Neapolitan adventure can be told in a series of images which remain crystal clear in my mind. The first is of a bright, sunny day at the San Paolo Stadium with a little figure in its centre circle. He kicks the ball high into the air to be met with rapturous applause. Tens of thousands of success-starved Napoli fans had turned out just to see their new hero unveiled to the public. The weight of expectation was intense but he did not let them down.
In truth, the Pibe d’Oro – Golden Child – had been envied by Europe since the first pictures of him juggling a football as a youngster were flashed around the world. It was Barcelona who brought him to the continent, shortly after a 1982 World Cup which had brought more frustrations than joy to the young player. He made a powerful impression on La Liga over a couple of years but it would never become his spiritual home. A terrible injury inflicted by Andoni Goikoetxea in 1983 threatened to kill his career just short of his 23rd birthday. Instead, he came back stronger than before and made his move to Italy in the summer of 1984.
His capture for a little under £7m was a bold statement of intent by a club with serious ambitions to rival the traditional big teams of the north – Inter, Juventus and, above all, Milan. There have been a lot of attempts to portray what happened at Napoli as a single-handed success for the mercurial Maradona. In truth, however, the Azzurri had put together a strong side around him which contained plenty of Italian internationals and, in due course, a couple of top quality Brazilians in Alemao and Careca. There is no doubt that the Argentine was the star around which this universe revolved, but he was not without some able assistants. That such a team could be constructed in such a volatile location was nothing short of a miracle – like putting a palace on top of Vesuvius.
“It is difficult to build something in a city like Naples,” admitted club President Corrado Ferlaino. “There is always someone sniping at you, always somebody who doesn’t want you to succeed either for their own interests or some other motive. Certainly, it is almost impossible to work here.”
And yet, for a while at least, Napoli became the very heart of Italian football. Looking back, it is clear Maradona gave a different rhythm to Serie A. At the time, the undisputed monarch of the division was Michel Platini, the man they called Le Roi – The King. His elegance and style fitted perfectly with the aristocratic ideals of Juventus. In time, Milan’s cosmopolitan feel would be enhanced by the glamour-filled Dutch trio of Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco Van Basten. Over at Inter, they would emphasise their northern roots with the good German stock of Lothar Matthaus, Andy Brehme and Jurgen Klinsmann. None of them would have fitted in at Napoli.
Maradona was in touch with his new city and its fans from day one – it was as if he had a hotline to their soul. He knew what it meant to feel like an underdog. And he played his football with the guile, passion and occasional subterfuge which suited his new surroundings perfectly. Naples at last felt it had a team which could compete with the rest of Italy – and on its own terms.
This is where my second image of Diego’s career clicks in. He scored countless wonderful goals but one which remains with me is an audacious indirect free-kick against Juventus from inside the penalty box. Most players in that position would elect to blast the ball but instead Maradona chose a seemingly impossible option. With the ball rolled to his feet, he scooped it over the wall and it dipped into the net to the amazement of almost everyone in the ground. Such astonishing acts became the hallmark of his time in Serie A.
The rewards did not come overnight at Napoli but they were worth the wait. Two Scudetti, a couple of second place League finishes, a Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup and the Italian Super Cup were delivered to supporters who had scarcely sniffed a trophy before his arrival. In seven glorious years the Napoletani enjoyed honours beyond their wildest dreams. The San Paolo, between 1983 and 1991, was the only place to be if you wanted to experience the true drama and passion that Italian football had to offer.
If you want the third image of the relationship between Maradona and Italy, it probably comes at the World Cup in 1990. When Argentina met the Azzurri in Naples, the talismanic figure dared to say what many people probably thought. He felt Napoli fans should be supporting his nation rather than their home country. In some quarters it was felt that he had gone too far and when his team knocked Italy out of the World Cup there were great feelings of resentment. Within a few months Maradona was banned from the game for cocaine use and his Italian dream had come to an acrimonious end.
With his departure, Napoli lost their way too. The club has never been able to rediscover the form it enjoyed when he played for them and seems to be in constant search of the heir to his throne. Ezequiel Lavezzi is the latest player to be lumbered with the onerous task of trying to live up to Maradona. It is unlikely anyone will ever manage it, given the level of success he achieved. Italian football has never seen the likes of Diego Armando Maradona and, in truth, it probably never will again.
“He was the best player in the world, probably the best there ever was,” recalled Gianfranco Zola who inherited his role at Napoli. “Being able to train with him and measure myself against him was a unique experience. The thing that struck me most about him was that he could do all the things with a ball I had dreamed of.”
Nowadays, Diego has reinvented himself as Coach of Argentina. Some of the torment and travails of years gone by appear to be behind him. His players all speak of the “honour” they feel in playing for a man they idolised in their youth. And, rest assured, there are plenty of people in Naples watching how their golden boy gets on with a great deal of interest.
