Maradona dies

[Ludo*1]

That Peter Shilton tweet is obviously fake, but his Daily Mail article isn't: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-8987779/PETER-SHILTON-Diego-Maradona-greatness-no-sportsmanship.html

And he's already profiting off his death...

 

[Ira Gaines]

Hope Maradona was loaded when he died, because it looks like he's still going to be paying a fair bit of rent with this c**t.

[Mr. Brightside]

I hope El Diego haunts f**k out of Shilton.

[Lurkst]

Shilts has been leaching off it since 1986....

[PauloPerth]

A legend. As the post at the bottom of the previous page mentioned, I pretended to be him at primary school as well and even started playing left footed to copy him.

Comparisons of players from different generations are tough, but he was the stand out best player in the world of his generation.  The 86 World Cup performance was probably the greatest display of an individual winning a major competition for his team in football history.  His impact at Napoli was immense as well.

This was a time the Italian league was the richest and best in the world and he beat them all.  Can you imagine the greatest player in the world these days joining a lower down, unfashionable club to go toe to toe with all the superstars at other clubs?

RIP Diego.

[Guest TheJTS98]

I think a lot of people unsure about the Maradona/Messi comparisons haven't actually watched a lot of the old games.

There are websites now where you can watch full World Cups from the past and it's remarkable to watch with modern eyes the brutality of the treatment Maradona and Pele took. Not just the highlights, but the full 90 minutes of being booted every time they get the ball.  And many of these fouls which would draw immediate red cards today did not even result in a name-taking. They just had to get on with it. The level of talent they displayed under these circumstances is incredible.

Messi's obviously an incredible talent, but he's got it a lot easier than either of them had. And he's also spent his club career playing in a much more uneven footballing world where his team has it relatively easy in most matches he plays.

Go back and watch the old stuff. Diego's the boy.

Edited November 26, 2020 by TheJTS98

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Bitter English people still crying about that goal.

No mention that he later completely bodied the entire England team to score a 2nd goal.

[Eednud]

11 hours ago, Wild Winton Rover said:

Two memories of the Greatest of my lifetime.

1979 Hampden Park He was 17 and playing with the 78 World Cup team and he was a stand out then. Nothing more needing said.

He scored the third goal in a 3-1 win for Argentina. From memory there was some dispute going on between the SFA and BBC and the game wasn’t shown in Scotland.

 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

It's interesting to think how Maradona would have fared in the modern game. Would his erm "interesting" training regime have penalised him in terms of fitness? Probably to an extent, however as many have posted the limits on bad tackles in the modern game would probably allow him to utterly destroy teams on a weekly basis. His spell at Barca is often viewed pretty negatively but he still scored in something like 65% of his games there and won a cup or two. This despite all the hatchet mean in La Liga trying to injure him almost weekly.

To then go to Serie A, one of the most defence-focused leagues in world football at the time and win two Scudettos with a previously unfashionable Napoli was some achievement. Fair enough they had some other tremendous players such as Alemao and having Careca as a strike partner was more than decent. 

Given the more attacking nature of these leagues nowadays he's be scoring 40 a season absolutely no problem with plenty of assists as well. He was generally reliable from the spot and an excellent free-kick taker as well. 

 

[RandomGuy.]

Too young to have ever remembered watching him, but there's a compilation going about of him doing keepie ups, then crossing the ball via an overhead kick, about 10+ times in different matches.

I doubt I'll ever see a player with his ability combined with that sort of ballseyness to pull shit like that off consistently. 

I mean, I can never imagine Messi/Ronaldo even attempting that regularly, never mind actually setting up goals through it.

[Monkey Tennis]

1 hour ago, Eednud said:

He scored the third goal in a 3-1 win for Argentina. From memory there was some dispute going on between the SFA and BBC and the game wasn’t shown in Scotland.

 

Nice one.

I actually remember the day of that match, but I've never seen footage of it before until now.  I didn't know it existed.

[peasy23]

[PauloPerth]

When you watch this you have to appreciate all the different ways he could beat a player or even simply to control the ball.  This was at a time when you didn't have social media highlighting showboating etc, he practically invented it!  A lot of the skilful players these days have a signature move that they do to great effect to beat a player, but it's very rare to see this variety of flicks and tricks from one player.  Just such a pity that there wasn't the tv coverage back then to have great footage of all his highlights.

[velo army]

6 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Too young to have ever remembered watching him, but there's a compilation going about of him doing keepie ups, then crossing the ball via an overhead kick, about 10+ times in different matches.

I doubt I'll ever see a player with his ability combined with that sort of ballseyness to pull shit like that off consistently. 

I mean, I can never imagine Messi/Ronaldo even attempting that regularly, never mind actually setting up goals through it.

Watch the highlights of him v Belgium. Argentina are defending a corner. The ball breaks to DM in his own box. He just nonchalantly lifts the ball over a Belgian player's head, takes it again and then skins another. in his own box. In a world cup semi-final. With very little room for manoeuvre.  Powerful stuff.

Someone mentioned his training regimen. He was actually remarkably fit because he hired a personal coach. He was ahead of his time in that regard and I reckon this was part of his genius. He knew that he was different and needed different training. He recognised what he needed in Italy that he didn't need in Spain (faster reactions and just quicker pace) and hired a coach whose remit was to give him that.

If you guys haven't seen the documentary "diego" it's wonderfully eye-opening and puts a lot of stuff in context. It shows how alone he was at Napoli, and conversely how he couldn't get any peace. I recommended, although I'll be a sobbing mess if I watch it at the moment.

Here, how utterly delicious are the amount of English tears being brought forth by his death? I think it's what he would have wanted.

 

[DiegoDiego]

This was at a time when you didn't have social media highlighting showboating etc, he practically invented it!

[Guest TheJTS98]

20 minutes ago, velo army said:

In a world cup semi-final.

 

Great post, but I think this is the most powerful part of it. Taking the absolute pish. In a World Cup semi-final. Unbelievable.

In an era where good players were shared around and where brutality against talented players was completely fine, he was always the stand-out.

My favourite Diego moment is Caniggia's winner against Brazil in the 1990 last 16 match in Italy. A wee moment of genius to win a huge game for his team who had been under the cosh at the top level. It lasts about four seconds or so. That's all it took.

There's nobody near him.

Edited November 26, 2020 by TheJTS98

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

16 hours ago, Mr. Brightside said:

I hope El Diego haunts f**k out of Shilton.

Been haunting him for 34 years tbf

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

3 hours ago, velo army said:

Watch the highlights of him v Belgium. Argentina are defending a corner. The ball breaks to DM in his own box. He just nonchalantly lifts the ball over a Belgian player's head, takes it again and then skins another. in his own box. In a world cup semi-final. With very little room for manoeuvre.  Powerful stuff.

Someone mentioned his training regimen. He was actually remarkably fit because he hired a personal coach. He was ahead of his time in that regard and I reckon this was part of his genius. He knew that he was different and needed different training. He recognised what he needed in Italy that he didn't need in Spain (faster reactions and just quicker pace) and hired a coach whose remit was to give him that.

If you guys haven't seen the documentary "diego" it's wonderfully eye-opening and puts a lot of stuff in context. It shows how alone he was at Napoli, and conversely how he couldn't get any peace. I recommended, although I'll be a sobbing mess if I watch it at the moment.

Here, how utterly delicious are the amount of English tears being brought forth by his death? I think it's what he would have wanted.

 

Its a small but comforting consolation to know that he got to see Scotland qualify for the Euros

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

Better than any of the documentaries, if you're having a night in get your tadger out and bash away to this hour of pure filth

 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

“Kind Diego is dead”

Spoiler

Oh you fucking think so do you?