Serie A Heroes: Diego Armando Maradona, The Divine Comedy | OneFootball

“To make you clearly understand the order of these new things, I will begin by telling how I came to a plain where not a single blade of grass could grow. Just as the painful forest is bordered by the sad ditch, so this wasteland is edged by the wood, and there I stood with my wise guide upon its wide rim.” –  Dante Alighieri

The Two Italies.

This is how people often described that period, when the difference between northern and southern Italy was so vast that it felt as if they were two separate countries. Milan, Turin, and Verona were symbols of economic success. The factories of FIAT were roaring, fashion houses were becoming world famous, and the region saw itself as the engine of Europe.

Meanwhile, the southern regions were struggling with harsh economic realities and widespread unemployment during the 1980s. The lands dominated by the mafia not only had to face social and governmental problems. On the football pitch, the supposedly superior North constantly sent its message.

Through humiliating banners, they were called terroni (peasants who dig the earth) and colerosi (cholera carriers).

People had nothing to be proud of in the midst of such hopelessness, so they poured all their emotions into the Napoli football team.

“We have no mayor, no houses, no schools, no buses, no jobs, and no public health system. But none of that matters, because we have Maradona.” – Il Mattino (Naples-based newspaper)

One city. One name. One faith.

In the early 1980s, Napoli was considered a mid-table team. They had never won a league title before and often fought against relegation.

But in 1984, the savior arrived.

A captain for a ship being tossed by the storm.

His presentation at the San Paolo Stadium became eternal.

80,000 people welcomed him with hysterical love, shouting the chant “Ho visto Maradona” at the top of their lungs.

Diego felt the fate of the people of the South, and he saw it as his mission to lift them up and place them on a silver platter. In every interview he repeated the same thing: “I am one of you.”

He did not behave like a superstar. He accepted the role of the savior and was ready to take revenge on the northern elite.

What could I compare it to?

The battle between David and Goliath?

No. This was much more than that.

Milan, Inter, Juventus. The crown jewels of Italian football. They dominated the entire league, while Napoli was simply described as a pitiful provincial club.

Defeating these teams was not just a sporting achievement. It was social justice.

And Maradona called his people to battle.

He slid in the mud.

He played through blood.

He stepped onto the pitch with his body filled with injections.

Because he knew he could not let the city down.

And in 1985, against Juventus, he drove the first nail into the coffin of the North.

An impossible, legendary free-kick goal from the Argentine, as the despised southern team defeated the empire of the Agnelli family.

“The glory of the One who moves all things pervades the universe and shines; in one part more and in another less.” – Dante Alighieri

After that, something began.

A process that seemed to attract success like a magnet.

In 1986 he returned to Naples as a world champion. He seemed unstoppable.

And he was.

In 1987, the world witnessed something extraordinary.

People looked at him as a liberator. As captain, he gave faith and confidence to an entire region.

After defeating the elite teams, the decisive moment of the season arrived in the 29th round. The crucial match was at home, against Fiorentina.

The match ended 1–1, which meant that for the first time in history, a southern team became champion of Italy.

And what happened afterward is almost impossible to describe.

People celebrated for days. Crowds cried in the streets. The whole of Naples was dressed in blue. Newborn children were given the name Diego.

And on the wall of the cemetery, a banner appeared with the following message:

“You don’t know what you missed.”

“Through me the way into the suffering city, through me the way into eternal pain, through me the way among the lost people. Justice moved my great Creator; Divine power made me, the highest wisdom and the primal love. Before me nothing was created except eternal things, and I endure eternally. Abandon all hope, you who enter.” – Dante Alighieri

Maradona had already become drug addicted during his time in Barcelona. His first years were about nothing else but matches, parties, and recovery.

And who made sure that none of this reached the headlines? None other than one of the leaders of the Camorra, Carmine Giuliano.

The player developed a close relationship with the mafia. They provided him with everything he needed. Cocaine. Parties. Protection.

After the league title, Maradona’s unique personality led him into more and more conflicts. With the coach, with the president, and even the fans who once saw him as a messiah began to grow angry with him because he missed training sessions.

Meanwhile, the Camorra occasionally rearranged Maradona’s apartment as a kind of warning.

The storm clouds were gathering faster and faster.

And eventually they struck.

In 1990, at the World Cup.

In the semifinal of the tournament, Italy faced Argentina. And the location was none other than Naples.

Before the match, the Italian government and the football federation asked the people of Naples to stand by their country and support the national team.

Maradona heard about this, and he did not remain silent.

“For 364 days of the year you treat these people as foreigners in their own country. Today you expect them to support the Italian team. But I am Neapolitan all 365 days of the year.”

A large part of the Napoli fans sided with Maradona and not with their country. This was the last straw for the already hated player in the eyes of the northerners.

A fierce battle unfolded on the pitch as well. In the end, a penalty shootout decided who would advance.

Maradona stepped up to take the final, decisive kick.

And he did not miss.

In the eyes of Italy, Maradona instantly changed from a god into a man.

In 1991, the relationship between Naples and Maradona finally came to an end, and it was not entirely peaceful. The player became involved in a doping scandal, and his relationship with some of the fans had deteriorated. When he left Napoli, they felt betrayed.

Time, however, smooths everything over.

Today there is no bitterness left in the eyes of the people of Napoli, and they still treat him as a saint. His face still appears on the walls of houses, and the greatest honor the city could give in return was this: the name of Napoli’s stadium.