My hero no more: Sourav Ganguly, India’s cricketers lead tribute to Diego Maradona

Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and several Indian cricketers paid their tribute to Diego Maradona, who died at the age of 60.


Sourav Ganguly Maradona

Sourav Ganguly has said he started watching football only because of Diego Maradona and he shared a throwback photo with him. , Sourav Ganguly Twitter

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Written By

Edited By

Siddharth Vishwanathan

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DNA webdesk

Updated: Nov 26, 2020, 11:29 AM IST

Diego Maradona, considered one of the greatest footballers, died on Wednesday at the age of 60 due to a cardiac arrest. His death has saddened the footballing world and billions from all over the globe have poured their hearts out paying tribute to the football legend. In India, a country that Diego Maradona visited a couple of times, the outpouring of grief has been prominent. Cricketers, led by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, paid their tribute to Diego Maradona. Ganguly shared a photo where he is with Diego Maradona and captioned it, “My hero no more ..my mad genius rest in  peace ..I watched football for you..”

Apart from Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Kuldeep Yadav and Manoj Tiwary all paid their tributes to Diego Maradona. Sachin Tendulkar, on his Twitter handle, wrote, “Football and the world of sports has lost one of its greatest players today. Rest in Peace Diego Maradona! You shall be missed.”

Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav and Manoj Tiwary also paid their tributes to Diego Maradona, all hailing him a legend and a great loss for the game of football.

Maradona’s brilliant career

In his international career with Argentina, Maradona earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, including the 1986 World Cup in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

In the 1986 World Cup quarter final, he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England that entered football history for two different reasons. The first goal was an unpenalized handling foul known as the "Hand of God", while the second goal followed a 60 meter dribble past five England players, voted "Goal of the Century" by FIFA.com voters in 2002.

The Argentinian was the first player in football history to set the world record transfer fee twice, first when he transferred to Barcelona for a then world record GBP 5 million, and second, when he transferred to Napoli for another record fee GBP 6.9 million.

Diego Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys during his club career, and is most famous for his time at Napoli and Barcelona where he won numerous accolades.