Adios Diego: Argentina weeps for favorite son Maradona amid chaos
BUENOS AIRES — Huge crowds bade a grief- filled adieu on Thursday to Argentina’s favorite son Diego Maradona before he was buried on the outskirts of the capital after a farewell that at times descended into chaos.
As darkness fell, the legend was laid to rest after a ceremony attended by family and close friends in the leafy surrounds of the Bella Vista cemetery outside Buenos Aires.
One of the greatest soccer players of all time, the World Cup winner died on Wednesday aged 60, sparking mourning around the world.
“I thought Diego was immortal, I thought he would never die on us. I feel a terrible sadness for a person who made us so, so happy,” said 63- year- old bus driver Antonio Avila outside the cemetery.
The peaceful farewell at the cemetery contrasted sharply with the sometimes raucous scenes of his send- off in Buenos Aires that seemed somehow in keeping with the player’s tumultuous life.
There, riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with stone- throwing fans that briefly threatened to mar a day of mourning for a beloved hero.
Tens of thousands of people had queued from early morning to file past the star’s coffin, draped in the Argentine flag and the player’s No 10 jersey, at the presidential palace.
But as the day wore on, fans queuing outside the palace grew increasingly impatient, and some took over a courtyard inside, where they chanted slogans, forcing officials to move Maradona’s coffin to another room as a security precaution.
‘ Hand of God’
Despite an earlier announcement extending the lying- in- state by several hours, officials shut the doors, and riot police clashed with stonethrowing fans on streets around the palace, arresting several people.
The outrageously skillful Maradona, widely remembered for his “Hand of God” goal against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter- finals, died of a heart attack while recovering from brain surgery.
“He was the best in the world, we’re going to miss him and his death broke our souls,” said Diego Armando Cabral, a 29- year- old bricklayer in Buenos Aires who was named after the legend.
Tributes poured in from around the world following the star’s death.
His career and life were sometimes tainted by a loose interpretation of the rules of the game and a crippling addiction to cocaine and alcohol.
Lionel Messi, Argentina’s modernday superstar, led the tributes as he said: “He has left us but he will never leave us because Diego is eternal.”
Brazilian legend Pele, 80, constantly compared with Maradona in the debate over football’s greatest player, said he hoped they would one day “play together in the sky”.
Maradona, born into poverty in Lanus, just south of Buenos Aires, on Oct 30, 1960, also played for Argentine clubs Argentinos Juniors and Boca Juniors, as well as Spanish giants Barcelona before becoming a hero in the working- class southern Italian city of Naples.