Napoli remember Maradona on what would have been his 66th birthday

Aurelio De Laurentiis, the club and his former team-mates all paid tribute. The most moving words came in an open letter from the Napoli Legends.

by Gennaro SanninoSaturday 31 October, 15:15 CET· 2 hours ago

Stadio Maradona Serie — Foto: Gaetano Capaldo · CC BY 4.0

Diego Armando Maradona would have turned 66 on Friday 30 October. Born in Lanús in 1960, he died on 25 November 2020. Naples remembered him as it does every year, with the murals of the Quartieri Spagnoli (the Spanish Quarter) and scarves hung from balconies.

Aurelio De Laurentiis posted the first message that morning, on X: "Today was born the redemption of a Naples that was looked down on and mistreated. A new genesis after Partenope." The club's Spanish-language account kept it simple: "Feliz cumpleaños, Pelusa", the nickname his family gave him as a child.

The Napoli Legends, his former team-mates, wrote an open letter to their captain. "We watched you in training and thought: God really exists," it reads. "It isn't the goals we miss, nor the victories. We miss you." They recalled Dalma and Dieguito, and the night of 26 May at a full Maradona stadium.

"We thought we had given something to Naples. Instead Naples, thanks to you, gave us eternity."

One line of his own, from a television interview years ago, still stands: "I was too in love with the ball to fall to the ground. I always wanted to play the ball." The team can show they have understood it at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday 1 November, 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET).