well here is diego maradona speaking to
the bbc back in 2006.
i ought to thank the guy upstairs the
beard
as i call him he gives me opportunities
give me that
and i make the most of it and i give my
all
to make the most of it well crowds have
been gathering outside the private
resorts
in buenos aires in argentina where
maradona had been staying after leaving
hospital you can see a mixture of
fans turning up to pay tribute as well
as the press as well we also have these
pictures
from naples where he played for seven
years
[Music]
and those people are chanting there's
only one maradona no one's going to
dispute that
fans have been lighting flares and
candles and you can see that this man is
still a legend in the city his picture
and image
is found in lots of neighborhoods he
played there for seven
quite incredible seasons between 1984
and 1991 and crucially he won
syria twice with napoli something that
no one in the city has ever forgotten
well tributes have been pouring in from
all around the world gary lineker now
one of the top football presenters but
of course in england international as
well
says by some distance the best player of
my generation and arguably the greatest
of all time
after a blessed but troubled life
hopefully you'll finally some find some
comfort
in the hands of god and then there's
this from uh
pele maybe the only person who you can
have a conversation about who the
greatest is
about he says i've lost a great friend
and the world has lost the legend there
is still much to be said but for now may
god give strength to your family
pele goes on one day i hope we can play
football together
in the sky and from a current great uh
from a former great to a current great
uh cristiano ronaldo now plays for
juventus
today he says i said farewell to a
friend and the world said farewell to an
eternal genius one of the best ever
an unmatched magician says ronaldo and
then we have this from lionel messi
argentinian of course barcelona star his
footballing style has often been
compared to maradona they're both short
men both incredible dribblers he says
a very sad day for all argentines and
for football he leaves us but does not
leave because diego
is eternal says messi well marcella
mauri
is one of the best-known argentinian
football journalists and we've spoken to
her from buenos aires
a blue for the country a blue for the
sports world and in fact
something that in a way shouldn't be
unexpected but
really isn't that surprising i mean um
you've done a very comprehensive review
of maradona's
life and ailments and career but i think
he
he was we came to think of him as
somehow immortal or invincible
he always lands on his feet i mean in
2018 he had a close
uh shave we could say when he was
publicly taken out of the stadium on a
stretcher and
and i think we've we felt uh a lot of us
watching that that maybe this was it
and it wasn't and i remember talking to
valdano at the time in 2018 and
him saying don't worry diego is like
cats he always bounces back
and his 60th birthday just uh on the
30th of october so
you know what a few weeks ago
um there were a lot of jokes here in
buenos aires about where was diego's
party
and uh and people were going no no but
he's different now he's calmed down
there is no party
but even so he did have a kind of
appearance
walking around the stadium of him
a local commentator said he was walked
through it was a bit like a zoo
exhibition and he looked incredibly
unwell already i mean more unwell than
i've seen him
before ever and just a few days later he
was taken into surgery and hasn't really
uh been seen well since so i think we
can
assume it's he's just not recovered
and for more reaction from latin america
here's casey watson in sao paulo
well certainly here in brazil it has
been the only thing that people are
talking about ever since the news of his
death
uh broke in argentina there's a
three-day morning that's been declared
the president said that you took us to
the top of the world you made us
immensely happy you were the greatest of
all and there'll be celebrations
of his life and a memorial later this
evening in the center of buenos aires
before
uh of course there'll be details coming
out about his funeral
but here in brazil i think it's a really
interesting uh discussion because
because of course as we heard there
maradona was one of the you know
greatest footballers
um ever but here in brazil courses pele
who is the was
always the rival even pele said that it
was sad news today i have lost a dear
friend the world has lost a legend there
is much more to say
but for now may god give his family
strength one day i hope we will play
soccer together
uh in the sky certainly the two men
created a rivalry if you like between
argentina and brazil
this is a region that is deeply proud of
its footballing legacy and there were
two greats
and of course one we've heard has now
died
and i guess we're seeing in the reaction
to this news
how deeply intertwined football and
broader culture and politics are
in in south america and in particular in
argentina
absolutely i mean we've heard that the
the argentine president
making a statement even the former um
president here in brazil lula de silva
said that he was a footballing giant
and his commitment to latin american
sovereignty marked our time and i think
that's what's so interesting is that
you've got these huge politicians not
just
not just sports people who are coming
out just to you know praising his legacy
it was something that
so many people here feel so deeply about
and and maradona really represented you
know
a really an amazing period in football
for the region so beyond argentina this
has resonated
of course across the region and the
world
and i'm guessing you've already
mentioned three days of morning in
argentina i'm assuming there'll be a
a series of events planned particularly
in argentina to mark his life
that's right so this evening will be
people meeting in the center
of buenos aires i was talking to
colleagues uh earlier who said that
there when the
the news broke were journalists even
crying on television that there was a
real sense of
deep sadness and therefore people were
going out on the streets of course
argentina is a country that has had a
really strict lockdown
it's also been one of the worst
countries uh in terms of suffering
from the from covert 19 but yet people
are still wanting to
to pay their respects and start marking
the life of
the countries if not one of the world's
best footballers