It was four minutes in a rich and fully lived life that spanned six decades, ending on Wednesday as news of the death of Diego Maradona filtered around the world. But, if you can begin to understand them, perhaps you’ll understand why Maradona meant so much to so many. And why, as Lionel Messi — his fellow Argentine and universal GOAT contender alongside Pele and Cristiano Ronaldo — put it, “He is gone, but he will be with us for eternity.”
As massive as Maradona’s on-field legacy is — and it includes titles in three different countries, as well as captaining Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup — his charisma and resonance off the pitch might be even greater.
Those four minutes on June 22, 1986, in front of 114,500 souls at the Azteca — the “Hand of God” that guided the ball over the head of Peter Shilton and into the English net, followed by the 10-second, 60-yard dash forever known as the greatest World Cup goal of all time — encompassed the yin and yang of sports. They showed the craven, worldly drive to succeed at all costs (even by cheating, because that’s what the “Hand” goal was) and the divine, celestial unimaginable skill that elevates star athletes, albeit briefly, into something superhuman.
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