Diego Maradona’s toxic post-death era is consistent with his chaotic life and career

he noise from the middle tier of the stand at the Spartak Stadium was strangely persistent, rising above the pre-match hum of Argentina versus Iceland in Moscow, the pitch a humid pocket of shade, the far end still pounded by heavy mid-afternoon sun.

There was no question in that moment of talking to Maradona. Instead, as it became clear this would be inevitable, given the need to walk up the stairs, IMaradona. What did he smell of? Sweat. Chemical cosmetic product. And a generalised smell I can only describe as “man”. Maradona smelt of man. Maradona died a year and half later aged 60. The reason for coming back to him now is that while his life was always difficult, his afterlife has become a horror story. Maradona has been worshipped, demonised and mourned. Right now he’s being litigated. The tax, inheritance and intellectual property wrangles continue to circle. And this week there was another startling twist in the ongoing desecration of Maradona’s death.

Maradona’s neurosurgeon, Leopoldo Luque, has now commissioned a separate medical review. According to this report, made public this week, Maradona’s pre-death erratic heartbeat may have originated in an “external” source, with the implication, several leaps of logic later, that some unidentified party gave him cocaine while he was lying in what would become his death bed.

Not to mention the record 53 fouls at a single World Cup. These were not fouls you “win” or “draw” but shin-gougers and leg-rakers. It is in part why Maradona will remain the most thrilling footballer you could hope to see. To be this good in this way, to play like some superhuman matador, out there making the game up off the cuff, always moving through his own lighter air, was also an act of physical bravery, a constant high-wire act.

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