Tears flow for Diego Maradona, man who stood for ‘nobodies’

An art teacher gives finishing touches to a painting of the late Argentinian football legend Diego Armando Maradona painted as a tribute after his death, in Mumbai on November 26, 2020. - Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona passed away on November 25, 2020. [Photo by Indranil MUKHERJEE, AFP]

Few places will mourn the death of Diego Maradona as much as Naples, the downtrodden, gritty Italian city that clasped the troubled Argentine to its heart at his time of need and was repaid with the best years of perhaps the greatest footballer to ever play the game.

Buildings around Naples are adorned with depictions of the man who took Napoli to the top of the Italian game and beyond and became an icon and spokesman for Neapolitans, whose chaotic city was feared and loathed in equal measure by the rest of Italy.