Diego Maradona at 60: six of his greatest goals for Napoli

29-Oct-2020 12:04:05 | The Guardian

Maradona spent his peak years at Napoli. To celebrate his 60th birthday, here are six of his best goals for the club

“Thank you to my sources of inspiration: Federico Fellini, Talking Heads, Martin Scorsese and Diego Armando Maradona,” professed director Paolo Sorrentino on stage at the 86th Academy Awards. It’s not often a footballer features in an Oscar acceptance speech. Sorrentino had just won the best foreign language film award for his masterpiece La Grande Bellezza and, hailing from Naples, the acclaimed filmmaker understood better than most what Maradona gave to the city.

Perhaps no player in the history of the game is as embedded into the fabric of a city as Maradona is in Naples. His image is everywhere. Negotiate your way through the narrow Spaccanapoli region of the city and you will see Neapolitans selling just about anything that can adorn Maradona’s face. Make your way to the similarly claustrophobic Quartieri Spagnoli district, walk up the steep, cobbled streets that bustle with everyday life, and gaze at his wall-size mural. Order a Neapolitan-style caffè in Bar Nilo on the corner of Via San Biagio, dedicated solely to Maradona, and observe your surroundings, complete with a single strand of Maradona mane, stolen from his headrest while he was on a flight back to Naples from Turin, and vials supposedly filled with tears of locals who cried upon his acrimonious departure from Italy in March 1991.