A giant Maradona emerges in Argentina, days before FIFA World Cup
The Hindu
The massive artwork, 148 feet high and 131 feet wide (45 meters by 40 meters) and painted on the side of a 14-story building in Buenos Aires
In the middle of the concrete jungle that is Argentina’s bustling capital, a huge mural has emerged of Diego Maradona wearing a national team jersey, his right hand in a fist and a defiant expression on his face.
The massive artwork, 148 feet high and 131 feet wide (45 meters by 40 meters) and painted on the side of a 14-story building in Buenos Aires, is one of several tributes that Argentines have dedicated to their soccer “God” shortly before the start of this year’s World Cup in Qatar, the first since Maradona’s death on Nov. 25, 2020.
Maradona’s feats and defeats as a player on the national team are being remembered, from the famous and infamous goals against England before the county won the 1986 World Cup to the failed final against West Germany four years later, and the doping test that got him expelled from the following World Cup in 1994.
Well-known street artist Martín Ron was behind the world’s largest mural, inspired by a photograph of the then-Argentina captain that captures his expression shortly before he sang the national anthem at the 1990 World Cup final against West Germany, which Argentina lost 1-0.
“It’s a photo of Diego when he was close to winning the country’s third star,” Ron told The Associated Press during a break from the work he began a month ago.
Argentina also won the World Cup in 1978, but Maradona didn’t make the team for that tournament.
“This photo summarizes everything Diego was,” Ron said. “Beyond the player, he was the guts, the motor, the heart.”