Who does not know the name of Diego Armando Maradona? This Argentine football goddess is one of the most popular names in the football world. His skill on the green field is undoubted. Some of Europe’s top clubs have witnessed the greatness of this Latin man.
Despite his fame as a worldwide football player, Maradona’s life had also been in its dark phase. He even got dragged into a case of illegal drugs.
Maradona, born on October 30, 1960, at Villa Fiorito, Buenos Aires. Maradona lived in a poor environment. His family was even the poorest among the others. His father was a mason and factory worker. With his little income, his father had to support his eight children.
Even though life was difficult, Maradona did not stop dreaming. He aspired to become a famous footballer in order to be able to raise his family’s caste. Got his first ball from his cousin, Beto Zarate, Maradona continued to play his favorite object. Because he always played football, his mother sometimes should take his ball from his so that Maradona focused on his education.
It didn’t take long for Maradona to get to know football. He began training with the local academy at the age of 9 years. When his talent began to appear, Maradona entered the main team. He led his friends to make a spectacular record of winning more than 100 matches in a row.
Excellent dribbling, accurate bait, and incredible footwork made Maradona grew into a player full of magic. The ball always seemed to stick into his leg every time he accelerated.
After deciding to take football as his life goal, his career continued to bloom. Debuting with Argentinos Juniors to join Boca Juniors, Maradona continued his career to Europe by joining FC Barcelona.
On the other hand, he was not quite good at managing his fame.
In an interview, Maradona admitted that he had used drugs in his productive age. His life began to be depended on drugs since he joined Barcelona at the age of 24 years.
“When I was 24 years old, I started using drugs. At that time I was in Barcelona,” said Maradona, as also quoted by Tuttonapoli.
His fanatics over drugs was getting worse while he was playing for Naples between 1984 and 1991. He consumed cocaine very intensely. This 165 cm man’s career began to eventually fade after the 1994 World Cup, on which he failed to pass the test of illegal drugs-use.
At that time, this greenfield star was not only asked to go home early from the 1994 World Cup arena but also getting suspended for 15 months from FIFA after being proven consuming the illegal drugs.
After having a match against Nigeria, Maradona was asked to undergo a series of drugs tests. It turned out that he was proven for taking ephedrine, one of the drugs banned by FIFA.
Ephedrine is a drug which can help overcoming respiratory problems while increasing performance. Furthermore, ephedrine also helps reducing weight, which also became Maradona’s problem at that time.
Even when he stopped playing football and began working as a coach, Maradona was once involved in several drug cartels. At that time, Maradona was appointed as the new coach of the Dorados de Sinaloa, but he was assumed to be involved in the drug cartels.
Reported by Sportstar Live, Maradona’s club was allegedly involved in the drug distribution channel. Hank’s family, as the owner of Dorados, was currently being accused of drug trafficking in Mexico.
Although the news had not been fully proven, Maradona’s involvement with drugs was considered to have a particular relationship with the several cartels in Mexico.
After being completely freed from the narcotics trap, Maradona claimed that he was very sorry. This Argentine man had admitted that drugs became his biggest regret. Maradona himself received guidance to quit drugs after hearing the voice of his child’s little heart.
“Which one among them, women, money or drugs are the biggest problems? The biggest problem for me is drugs. The drug is killing!”
Apart from all of his controversies over drugs, Maradona remains to be a perfect figure who continues to play well on the field. Being the best player of all time with Pele proves his superiority as one of the football legends.
