Diego Maradona, Argentine football legend, dies of cardiac arrest at 60

Maradona was widely considered as the greatest football player of all times and mesmerized the world with his astonishong dribbling skills. With his scintillating performances, Maradona had taken Argentina to the 1986 World Cup win.

File Photo

Argentine footballing legend Diego Armando Maradona has passed away at the age of 60 years. Widely considered as the greatest player to ever play the game of football, Maradona had recently undergone a brain surgery. However, as per the latest reports, Maradona suffered a massive heart attack and died because of it.

The news was first announced by Argentine newspaper Clarine on Wednesday (November 25). ESPN Argentina also announced the news from their official Twitter handle.

Diego Maradona has died at the age of 60, his longtime lawyer and agent has confirmed.

• Played in 4 World Cups
• Won 1986 World Cup and Golden Ball
• Won 9 club titles with Boca Juniors (1), Barcelona (3) and Napoli (5)

One of the all-time greats. pic.twitter.com/yv0WtvLDsU

— ESPN (@espn) November 25, 2020

Maradona is most fondly remebered for winning the 1986 World Cup for Argentina with a stellar performance that captivated the hearts of millions of fans across the globe. In the same World Cup - Maradona scored, arguably, two of the most famous goals in football history in the quarter-finals against England.

The first goal, popularly known as the 'Hand of God', where he slotted the ball into the net with his bare hand while the second goal, scored just four minutes later, was quite the opposite. The diminutive Maradona, single-handedly dribbled through the whole English defence and then scored past goalkeeper Peter Shilton, leaving everyone in the stadium gasping for breath.  That goal, to this day, is considered to be the greatest goal ever scored on the football pitch.

"El Pibe de Oro" (The Golden Boy) as he was nicknamed throughout his career, scored 34 goals in 91 appearances for the Argentina national team.

Maradona also had an equally impressive club career, where he starred for major clubs like Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli and Sevilla. He spent the prominent years of his playing career in Naples, Italy where he is still a revered figure. For Napoli, Maradona scored 81 goals from 181 league appearances.

Plying his trade as an attacking midfielder or a second striker (False nine), Maradona was renowned for his astonishing dribbling skills, where he could easily outfox the defenders and provide assists or himself reach a goal-scoring position.