Two years after the death of Diego Maradona: the world champions remembered the best of history in Qatar

His presence is missing. However, Diego Maradona always manages to be at the World Cup. Two years after his painful and unexpected death, the Ten also said they were present in Qatar. Fourteen Argentine world champions met this Friday to pay homage to him in “The Tree of Dreams”, a space set up by Conmebol in Msheireb, one of the districts in the center of Doha.

Mario Kempes, Alberto Tarantini, Daniel Bertoni, Ubaldo Fillol, Julio Ricardo Villa, Omar Larrosa, Nery Pumpido, Ricardo Giusti, Ricardo Bochini, Carlos Tapia, Sergio Batista, Oscar Ruggeri, Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga participated, all former teammates of Diego in the Argentina national team and all world champions between Argentina 1978 and Mexico 1986.

Many international journalists and fans of various nationalities also took part in the ceremony, in the open air and with the heat sometimes difficult to bear. It began with the projection of images about his career, continued with speeches from managers and former players and ended with the famous story of Víctor Hugo Morales in his goal of the century, scored against England in the 1986 Mexico quarter-finals.

Valdano, the firm’s partner in Mexico 86, was one of the speakers. “In the first game he didn’t score goals, but he scored all three and from then on his level of inspiration grew to levels never seen before. I remember the match against Uruguay, in the round of 16, where Diego was unstoppable and it was thought that it was impossible to play better than Diego that day but that was just a sketch of his definitive work and he chose the right day, the right opponent, the right stadium and that day against England he completed his most wonderful work,” he argued in his perfect prose.

It was a moment of emotion to remember the eternal Ten. “Diego continues to be there and will be there until the end of our lives,” underlined Burruchaga, who shared two World Cups with Maradona.

For his part, Giusti, another of the champions of Carlos Bilardo’s team, was of the same vein: “Diego is always present with us, where there is football, there is Maradona”.

Funny the reflection of Ricardo Julio Villa, who was part of the squad that played the 1978 World Cup, the one that a teenager Maradona lost by decision of César Luis Menotti.

“I played with the same number as Diego and I thought he had individual qualities, but it didn’t even reach 10%. Diego was unique: he played beautifully, he was creative, he was mischievous, he moved people and that is being lost in the game of football today. where everything is more of a business and the game has been robotic. Diego was a joy for football and that’s how I want to remember him,” said the former midfielder.

The act was presided over by the president of FIFA, the Swiss Gianni Infantino; his partner from Conmebol, the Paraguayan Alejandro Domínguez; and the head of the AFA, Claudio Tapia. They also approached former Argentina manager José Pekerman; the current coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Simeone, the vice president of Inter, Javier Zanetti, and the Barcelona legend, the Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov, a friend of the Argentine star.

Doha, Qatar. Special envoys.