Argentina soccer legend Diego Maradona once again drew flak as he praised Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (Reuters/File Photo)Argentine football legend Diego Maradona once again drew flak as he praised Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The World Cup winner, who is currently managing Dorados, a second-division club in the Mexican league, triggered the controversy during a post-match press conference on Sunday following his club’s 3-2 win over Tampico Madero.
“I want to dedicate this victory to Nicolas Maduro [Venezuelan President] and all Venezuelans, who are suffering,” he was quoted as saying by AFP.
“These Yankees (the United States), the sheriffs of the world, think just because they have the world’s biggest bomb they can push us around. But no, not us,” he added. The Argentine football great is close to the embattled Venezuelan leader and has supported him on many occasions.
However, an investigation in this regard has been launched by the Mexican Football Federation on whether Maradona violated its ethics code while praising Maduro.
The football federation released a statement, in which it said, “The disciplinary committee had opened an investigation over the comments for an alleged infraction of articles 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 of the FMF ethics code. According to Article 7 of that code, anyone affiliated with the football federation has to “maintain a neutral stance on political and religious matters.”
Maradona, last year, was refused entry to the US after he compared President Donald Trump with a blond-haired puppet named Chirolita. As per a report in Bleacher Report, Maradona criticised Trump on an Argentinian television show Buenos Dias America where he said, “This Chirolita they have for president can’t buy us.”
After imposing several sanctions on the South American nation, the United States also led over 50 countries in recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s acting president, while terming Maduro’s re-election as illegal.
