Lionel Messi paid tribute to Diego Maradona during Barcelona‘s 4-0 win over Osasuna by revealing an old Newell’s Old Boys shirt with his No 10 on the back after scoring his side’s fourth goal.
The football world has been united in grief since Maradona passed away at the age of 60 on Wednesday after suffering a cardiac arrest in his home in Buenos Aires. Argentina declared a three day period of national mourning in homage to one of the country’s favourite sons.
Maradona inspired Argentina to their second and most recent World Cup triumph in 1986, scoring five goals in the tournament, including the “Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century” against England in the quarter-final and providing five assists.
It is that feat that has led to some proclaiming him to be Argentina’s greatest ever footballer, even ahead of Messi who is his country’s leading scorer with 71 goals.
Despite the debate over who out of Maradona or Messi can rightfully lay claim to the title of Argentina’s, if not the world’s best ever player, the pair had a great mutual respect. Indeed, Messi even played under Maradona for the national team for two years – a spell which included the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
It was unsurprising, therefore, to see Messi take the opportunity to pay his own respects to Maradona in his first game since his death on Sunday. After goals from Martin Braithwaite, Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho had put Barcelona 3-0 up against Osasuna at Camp Nou, Messi added the fourth and final goal with 73 minutes played.
After dribbling into space and weaving around an opposition defender, Messi rifled the ball into the roof of the net from the edge of the box with a typically brilliant piece of individual play.
Messi was mobbed by his teammates before heading off on his own to pay his respects to Maradona. Messi removed his Barcelona shirt to reveal the red and black colours of Newell’s Old Boys before kissing the fingers of both hands and raising them to the sky. Much to his bemusement, Messi was booked by referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz for taking his shirt off.
Oh my word…MAGIC from Messi! ????
— Premier Sports ???? (@PremierSportsTV) November 29, 2020
And he celebrates by revealing a Maradona Newell's Old Boys jersey under his Barca shirtpic.twitter.com/Swreif0daf
Although Maradona is most synonymous for successful spells at Napoli, Boca Juniors and Argentinos Juniors, as well as a less happy time at Barcelona, he also represented Sevilla and Newell’s Old Boys towards the end of his playing days in the early 1990s.
Maradona made five competitive appearances for Newell’s during the 1993-94 season, in order to boost his fitness ahead of the World Cup in the United States of America in 1994. However, he tested positive for the banned substance ephedrine two games into the tournament and was subsequently banned from football for 15 months, which ended his association with a club known in Argentina as the Lepers.
Despite his spell at the club being far from a successful one, Maradona is revered by Newell’s supporters. While in charge of Gimnasia La Plata in 2019, Maradona was given a warm welcome by Newell’s players, officials and supporters alike ahead of a game between the two clubs. They even provided him with a throne to sit in to watch the game.
Unlike Maradona, Messi has never worn the colours of Newell’s Old Boys in a professional capacity, but the Rosario native is a lifelong supporter of the club. Messi joined their youth ranks at the age of six and he remained there for six years until joining Barcelona at the age of 13 in 2001.
Messi has admitted on a number of occasions that it is a “dream” of his to represent his boyhood club before he retires, although it is unlikely they will be in the frame to sign him should he decide to leave Barcelona at the end of his contract next summer.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/33umBwd
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