“Because I wanted to catch the ball”. Perhaps we should start from here to try to describe what Diego Armando Maradona represented, and what he represents today for the city of Naples. This is how the Argentine replied in an old interview with Billy Costacurta, who asked him why he never fell, even after the most decisive of contrasts, compared to other colleagues. To resist, to remain standing, to the blows taken, to the passing of time, to the melancholy that is stratified. It seems to see Maradona, with low center of gravity and legs that push mightily to the ground, receiving a further impulse to continue the race.
It was the night of April 1, 1991, but it wasn’t a joke. The escape, favored by darkness: away from Naples, with a probably unrepeatable era that deserved a different ending. Almost thirty years have passed, but just take a tour of the city to perceive that essence, a never stolen vessel of memories. On the walls there is still talk of Diego, and clearly perceptible ‘Maradonian’ echoes emerge from the windows.
The number 10 shirt. The retired one, the one that no today’s Napoli player can wear anymore, is still the most present on the shoulders of the kids playing in the streets. It is the symbol, the homage, the altar on which an old rite is celebrated every day. “I saw Maradona” was a valid phrase in the eighties, nineties and still now. The cultural reference always remains the same. For those who try to dribble everyone on the pitch at the oratory, the warning is always the same: “Who do you think you are, Maradona?”.
“If you can make a tunnel”. This is what Juan Carlos #Montes told him when he made his debut with the Argentine Juniors jersey. He didn’t know, or maybe he did: He was making the decision that would forever change the world of football. Diego enters and after a minute do you know what he does? Tunnel! Obviously. On the other hand Juan Carlos had ordered him: ‘Play as you know’. And Diego Armando Maradona could only play like this. Here is the key to understanding such a visceral relationship with Naples: the inability to be different, to simulate emotions or feelings. Take it or leave it: Maradona like Naples, Naples like Maradona. Today, on the day of the sixtieth birthday, as then. Like the first time as a professional footballer. Like the first time in the world that a child tried to dribble everyone and they said: “Who do you think you are, Maradona?”
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