One of the world’s greatest footballers, Diego Maradona, the hero of Argentina’s victory in the 1986 World Cup, died in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. A three-day national mourning has been announced in Argentina. This news has caused a wave of mourning among football enthusiasts all over the world and a tribute is being paid to this great footballer on social media.

Like Pelé, Maradona was 60 years old, considered among the world’s best footballers, wearing a number 10 jersey. For a long time, he was struggling with many problems related to cocaine addiction and obesity.

FIFA named him one of the two greatest players in the history of the game, along with Brazilian Pelé in 2001. He was discharged from the hospital after a brain operation two weeks earlier.

Maradona, who earned his name in football legends due to the ‘Hand of God’ goal in the quarter-finals against England in the 1986 World Cup, was no less than a footballer in his career spanning over two decades.

Maradona admitted years later that he had deliberately hit the ball, four minutes later in the same match, though he had scored a brilliant goal, which FIFA called the greatest goal in World Cup history.

Argentina called that victory a revenge for the defeat at the hands of Britain in the 1982 war. Maradona wrote in his 2000 autobiography ‘I am the Diego’, ‘It was more than trying to win the match, we said that this match has nothing to do with war, but we knew that the Argentines had Had lost his life. This was our revenge. We were playing for our country and it was something bigger than us. ‘

Drug addiction and failure with the national team later hurt Maradona’s reputation, but he remained the ‘Golden Boy’ for football fans. The magic of Maradona’s feet, courageous, fast-paced and always doing something beyond estimation, was seen by the whole world on the football field.

His specialty was to score with the left foot by making a dent in the opposing defense. Salvatore Bagani, who played for Italian club Napoli with him, said, “He used to think everything in mind and showed it with his feet to make it come true on the field”.

At the end of his career due to increasing obesity, he did not lose that speed. At the same time, he admitted to being addicted to cocaine in 1991 and this addiction did not stop him until he said goodbye to football in 1997. He was hospitalized in 2000 and 2004 due to heart disease. His health continued to decline due to drug addiction. He was hospitalized in 2007 due to hepatitis.

He made his return to football in 2008 as the coach of Argentina, but lost the team in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. After that he was also the coach of the United Arab Emirates club Al Wasl.