Maradona trial hears masseur describe icon’s final days of resignation and decline | OneFootball

A masseur told the Argentine trial into Diego Maradona’s death that the Albiceleste great spent his last days bedridden with oedema and, in his final hours in November 2020, seemed resigned.

According to L'Équipe, Nicolas Taffarel said Maradona would not get out of bed, refused to eat and neglected his hygiene. He added that he had urged the medical team to be present every day, a plea captured in an audio message played in court.

Nearly six years on, seven healthcare professionals, including a doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist and nurses, have been on trial since mid-April in San Isidro, north of Buenos Aires, for alleged negligence that may have contributed to Maradona’s death.

Taffarel recalled reporting swelling and worsening issues but seeing no swift, concrete response. He said doctors told him to stay calm and that the situation would pass, but it did not.

On 24 November, the day before Maradona died, Taffarel tried to get him to move and drink mate, a South American infusion, but Maradona replied that he wanted nothing, using an ambiguous Spanish phrase that can mean it is fine or it is finished. Maradona died the next day, aged 60, from cardiorespiratory arrest with pulmonary oedema.

Nurse Ricardo Almiron, one of the accused, testified that the day before the death he noted slight tachycardia, saw Maradona go to the bathroom at about two in the morning, then left on 25 November at six thirty, after discreetly checking he was resting with rhythmic breathing.

The timeline is central, with forensic doctors testifying that death followed several hours of agony, though estimates place it somewhere between morning and midday. The defendants, who face up to 25 years in prison, deny responsibility, and the trial could run beyond August.

Source: L'Équipe

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