Maradona dead

Saw him in Lansdowne 1980 and was at his last game for Argentina v Greece in Foxboro WC 1994.
He scored a glorious goal and then failed a drug test - nothing was ever simple with Diego .
Brilliant second goal against England in 1986 but his first will alway have a special place in my heart.
Wherever the beautiful game is played he will alway be remembered - the best I ever saw , RIP
 
I see that Gary Lineker could not resist a dig when he said " hopefully he"ll finds comfort in the hands of God".
He could have been more gracious I think.
 
I see that Gary Lineker could not resist a dig when he said " hopefully he"ll finds comfort in the hands of God".
He could have been more gracious I think.

Lineker had nothing but the upmost admiration of Maradona as player and person. And the respect was mutual.
The hand of God reference was nothing more than a gentle pun that I'm sure, coming from Lineker, Maradona would laugh at.
 
A lot of his own, Lineker, followers on Twitter did"nt seem to think that it was the right tine for that remark though.
There has to be a time to move on from events like that hand ball , I think.
 
Forget the handball, that's just a distraction. He was without doubt the greatest player I ever saw, an absolute legend on the pitch. He had it all, balance, touch, both feet, aggression, strength, agillity, speed, attitude, awareness, he really was *************************. No player will ever repeat what he did in the World Cup '86 - he single handedly won that for Argentina. No player will ever repeat what he did at Napoli.
Thanks for the memories Diego. RIP.
 
A lot of his own, Lineker, followers on Twitter did"nt seem to think that it was the right tine for that remark though.
There has to be a time to move on from events like that hand ball , I think.

That's true, its easy to see how it can be misconstrued. But anyone knowing Lineker would know that he never held a grudge against Maradona for the handball. He saw it for what it was, an opportunist chance to score a goal for his team by hook or by crook, and he got away with it.
It happens week in, week out in professional football. Not to the extent of deliberate handball but pulling, kicking, holding, stamping, diving, etc are all 'tactics' used to try advance the cause of scoring a goal for your team, or to prevent a goal against your team. Its all cheating to lesser or greater extents.
Maradona got away with it, but too much is made of it relative to the footballing genius that he was.
 
Maradona was brutally fouled by English players in that game prior to hand of God including an elbow in the face by Terry Fenwick. So the cheating was on both sides and cancelled each country's moral high-ground out. Lineker was admiring of Maradona as a professional and begrudgingly accepted the first goal as clever gamesmanship and the second as peerless genius.
 
@joer, he said that Maradona was "Not a great player". Mind you he said the same thing about Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini (of whom he also said had "No bottle"). He said that Steven gerrard was "Found out. A nothing player", if he said he was a thug and a scumbag he's have has a case but he was a great player.
Yes, Eamon has often said things that was more than a bit daft.
 
Just imagine if today"s players were fouled like , then they would have reason to go down rolling around.
 
Maradona was brutally fouled by English players in that game prior to hand of God including an elbow in the face by Terry Fenwick. So the cheating was on both sides and cancelled each country's moral high-ground out. Lineker was admiring of Maradona as a professional and begrudgingly accepted the first goal as clever gamesmanship and the second as peerless genius.
He also played on pitched that were like ploughed fields while being horrendously fouled in just about every game in ways that would see red cards and suspensions nowadays.
 
In all the predictably cloying commentary on is death not a mention of his penchant for prodigious amounts of cocaine..No idea why Irish media does this.
 
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