In Argentina, however, Maradona was always more than just a sports hero -- he was a divine figure. It was the Houston Chronicle that described Maradona perfectly: he was the combination of Michael Jordan's athleticism, Babe Ruth's power and Mike Tyson's human fallibility. In a country that survived many social frustrations and several military dictatorships, El Diego became a symbol of hope and an idol to millions.
The nickname, "El Pine de Oro", has some old Argentine tradition in it. Jonathan Wilson describes the pine in the book Angels with Dirty Faces: "the urchin who will make his way trough life with a combination of charm and cunning" and as a football player the pibe remains "absolved of responsibility; encouraged almost, never to mature into adulthood".
His exceptional talent was obvious from a very young age. When he was eight years old, he came to Argentinos Juniors for trials. When the coaches saw what he could do with the ball, they asked Maradona to give them his identification card; they simply couldn't believe that the boy was really that young (in reality, he was small for his age). Once it became clear that Maradona wasn't lying, the coaches decided to devote themselves to improving his skills.
Even before he was ready to play matches for the senior team, the prodigy was in the spotlight: when Argeninos Juniors played, he would perform tricks with the ball at halftime. The reputation grow and he would be guesting a television show doing tricks with both the ball and an orange.
At 15 years old, Maradona made his official debut for Argentinos Juniors first team and became the youngest player ever in the Primera. A few months later, he made his debut in the Argentina national team, in a friendly against Hungary. This happened in early 1977, the year before Argentina would be hosting the World Cup. César Luis Menotti, the coach of the national team, finally decided to exclude the big talent from the World Cup squad – Diego was devastated.
Maradona spent five years at the Argentinos Juniors, scoring 116 goals in 166 appearances (during this time, he met Claudia Villafañe who some years later would become his wife). When the time came to move on, he was able to choose between several well-paid offers. Although River Plate offered the most money, Maradona made his decision clear -- he wanted to play for Boca Juniors, the team he supported from his childhood. One of his dream would be fulfilled after Boca winning the league title that season.
Despite the fact that he would only play a single season for Boca, Maradona made it a special one. With 28 goals in 40 appearances, he led the team to a Primera Division title. At the end of the season, he took part at his first World Cup. By all accounts, it was not a great tournament for El Diego. Due to internal tensions within the team and the opposing players fouling him at every opportunity, Maradona couldn't assert his dominance. After losing against Brazil (in a match that Maradona received a red card after kicking a Brazilian player in the midriff) and Italy, Argentina failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
Still, this setback didn't stop Maradona from being transferred to FC Barcelona for a world record fee of $7.3 million. In the 26 June 1983 El Clasico, Maradona became the first Barcelona player to receive standing ovations from Real Madrid fans. Still, the Argentinian star didn't make the great impact in La Liga many had expected from him. The circumstances were not ideal. On the pitch Diego was constantly fouled, culminating in a broken leg after a horrific tackle by Goikoetxea. And outside the pitch the relations with the staff was sometimes bad (to change this to the better, Menotti was hired as a coach), and there were numerous parties -- Maradona made his first acquaintance with cocaine in his Barcelona days.
Finally, a controversial field incident against Bilbao in front of King Juan Carlos and another 100,000 fans forced Barcelona executives to transfer Maradona out. What happened was one of the ugliest brawls on a pitch between two top football teams and with Maradona in the midpoint.
In 1984, Maradona was transferred to Napoli for another world record fee of $13 million. Upon his arrival in Naples, a local newspaper noted that the city lacked schools, buses, houses, employment, and sanitation, but none of that mattered as they had Maradona. Once he saw the 75,000 Neapolitans at his presentation, Maradona decided that he would repay their love by giving it all on the pitch. The Argentinian surely made an impression in his first Seria A season (Napoli came third after Juventus and Roma), but much more was to come. In the meantime, the World Cup finals was to take place in Mexico.
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