Ranking of players most massacred by fouls in the Cup: Maradona is first, second and third

Today is November 25th: a date that is hard to forget for anyone who loves football, epics and dreams. On this same day, two years ago, the greatest football player in history, Diego Armando Maradona, died.🇧🇷 A sad end at just 60 years old, isolated from those who truly loved him and abandoned to the ‘care’ of those who had been squeezing him for years like a goose that lays golden eggs.

Destiny wanted the anniversary of Maradona’s disappearance to fall during these championships world Cup that built the myth of Diez, absolute protagonist in Argentina’s victory in Mexico in 1986. Diego is gone, but even in Qatar he is more present than ever: flags, choirs and sentiments transmit the immortal story of the Pibe de Oro to younger generations young people.

Yes, it was another football. And if it is true that VAR would have thwarted the memorable – but incorrect – ‘mano de Dios’ against England at the Azteca stadium, it is equally true that attention equal to today’s attention to what happens on the field, with the referees assisted even with the video crushing the tough game, would have allowed Maradona to be ten times more decisive, more legendary, more poetry in motion.

Diego at the time was mercilessly hammered from 1′, stuffed with painkillers so he could take the field, as his ankles used to swell up like melons. However, never a mock foul, never a protest to have an opponent sent off, never a rash reaction: he knew this was his destiny, his pain to bear with his glory, two inseparable sides of the same coin.🇧🇷 Maradona was beaten and at the same time respected by his colleagues, in an insoluble dichotomy as only sacred mysteries are: impossible even for those who beat him not to fall victim to his fascination.

Diego Armando Maradona in the stands at the World Cup in Qatar

The extent to which Maradona, accused of breaking the rules with his Shilton goal, was primarily the victim of people systematically violating those same rules against him is demonstrated by an impressive statistic relating to the entire history of the World Cup. in that same Argentina-England Mexico ’86, 7 of the total of 16 fouls suffered by England players were discounted by Alviceleste’s number 10. It was the synthesis of the treatment reserved for Maradona throughout his career, in all categories and in any field, a destination that became exemplary in the World Cup. During the 1986 edition, Diego was fouled a total of 53 fouls, which is still the record for any World Cup between 1966 and 2018.🇧🇷

It was not better treated four years later in Italy ’90, when he ended the tournament with 50 fouls suffered (second all-time number) and also the third position in this unenviable ranking belongs incredibly to Maradona, with 36 fouls suffered in Spain ’82 , tournament in which he played only five games. In these three World Cups – explains the Opta analyst – Maradona alone suffered 2.5% of all fouls committed during the tournament in any match. A ‘cross’ that never let any weight down throughout his career: the more they hit him, the more he got up and wanted the ball at his feet🇧🇷 He was happy. Anyone who saw him play was delighted. Thanks again Diego.