Diego Armando Maradona, one year after his death: The tourist sites in Argentina to know a little more about ‘Pelusa’

Argentina and Diego Armando Maradona they are inseparable. They are not one without the other. El Diez became an icon of the identity of the country that saw it born until it became the best player in football history. November 25 is one year after his death but “El Diego” or “Pelusa”, as they called him, lives in every place he passed through.

The first love

Walking on the pitch of the Argentinos Juniors stadium is like walking through history. Back in 1976, Diego made his debut at the age of 15 in the first category of Argentine football at this club that had seen him arrive 8 years earlier. On the first ball he touched that afternoon, he threw a pipe and was caressed by the “oooole” that came down from the stands as a welcome. As if he anticipated the luxuries he would indulge in throughout his career.

You can also visit the Museum “El Templo del Fútbol”, where the trophies that the player got during his time at “El Bicho” of La Paternal are exhibited. It is located in the same stadium named Diego Armando Maradona who, years later, would witness the first game of Lionel Messi in the Argentine National Team.

The ball does not get dirty

It is said that Boca Juniors was the club of his loves. Since he was a child, he sucked the passion for xeneizes colors and, by a picaresque move, put pressure on the club to be hired. According to account in his book I am the Diego of the peopleRiver Plate was the only one who had made an offer for his pass but, before the media, “Pelusa” assured that he was about to sign with Boca. So it was that in 1981 he played his first game with the blue and gold.

In the Bombonera “El Diez” said goodbye to football as a player. On November 10, 2001, the idol pronounced one of his phrases that would remain forever: “Soccer is the most beautiful and healthiest sport in the world, there is no doubt about that. Because you’re wrong, you don’t have to pay for football. I was wrong and paid, but … the ball, the ball does not stain”. In the Museum of the Boquense Passion you can learn the complete history of the captain’s time at the club.

Maradona’s life

During his early years, Diego lived in a house in the city of Villa Fiorito, which was recently declared a national historic site. With the “tin roof and dirt floor”, as the player himself described it, he marked his origins, the same ones that would accompany him throughout his life.

Another point to visit is the house where he lived with his family in La Paternal, while playing in Argentinos Juniors. The so-called “House of D10s”, alluding to Diego’s role as a deity on the courts and the number 10 that always shone on his shirts, attracts tourists from all over the world who want to be transported to the times when the construction of the mysticism.

For her wedding, she chose one of the most beautiful churches in the City of Buenos Aires: the luxurious Basilica del Santísimo Sacramento. Its construction began in 1908 and it took eight years to finish it with materials from different parts of the world. It consists of five towers, an underground crypt for 800 people, a gold, marble and onyx altar, and imposing stained glass windows. It is considered a jewel of architecture that can be seen in the Retiro neighborhood.

The walls speak of Diego

The number of walls that are reminiscent of “D10s” in Argentina is countless, his image is present in all neighborhoods as a reminder of the joys he gave away. Different stages of their life were immortalized on the painted walls and, as they pass, it is said that people touch them as in the image of a saint. Just to mention one, at the Gimnasia y Esgrima stadium in La Plata, the club of which he was technical director, they dedicated a mosaic mural to him.

Pride, crying, joy, nostalgia. An eternal Maradona continues to awaken passions even though he is no longer physically. He left his mark on the fans of all clubs and transcended generations, a phenomenon that managed to bring football fans together under the same passion: watching him play.