November 26, 2020 - Diego Armondo Maradona passed away on Wednesday at the age of 60. Today, we remember the Argentine football legend Maradona and his Croatian connection.
One of the greatest and most controversial footballers of all time has died from the effects of a heart attack two weeks after a blood clot operation in his brain.
The news of Diego's death shocked the whole world, and many active and former athletes said goodbye to him on social media.
Maradona was in independent Croatia for the first time in 1994 in a friendly match at Maksimir as preparation for the World Cup. Batistuta, Caniggia, Diego Simeone, Fernando Redondo and other Argentine stars came to Zagreb with Maradona, and against Ciro Blazevic's Croatia, they played 0:0.
There were 40,000 people at the stadium, but less than half of them saw the end of the match because of an epic flood. The then-president Franjo Tuđman received a football as a gift from Maradona.
Maradona often said that Dražen Petrović was one of his favorite athletes and he used that trip to Zagreb to visit his grave. He went to the grave with Davor Šuker, his teammate from Sevilla, and Dražen's mother Biserka and laid a wreath.
Diego returned to Croatia in 2005 when he was a special guest at the humanitarian tennis and football tournament in Novi Vinodolski.
"I'm glad to be in Croatia again. I want to have fun and play a little football and tennis. My knee hurts, but I will endure," said Diego, who played tennis with Goran Ivanisevic, gave autographs, and took photos with fans. He was led by Ćiro Blažević, with whom he hugged after the game, and signed Ivanisevic's Hajduk flag.
Tennis brought him to Croatia again on November 26, 2016, for the Davis Cup finals between Croatia and Argentina. Although he was in a much worse condition than when he was in Novi Vinodolski, Maradona cheered with all his might for his national team. Before the final, he gave a short interview for Nova TV.
"Croatia is a beautiful country that loves the Davis Cup as much as we Argentines. I congratulate the Croatian audience for welcoming me with wonderful respect. They told me I have Croatian roots, but I can't confirm that. My father is of Basque descent, and if I have Croatian roots - good," Maradona said.
Maradona's grandfather was allegedly Mateo Kariolić from Korčula, who named his older daughter Dalma, Diego's mother, after Dalmatia. Maradona gave the same name to his daughter and once said that she was also named after Dalmatia.
Source: Index.hr
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