The Amazon Prime Video series on Diego Armando Maradona causes discussion for some historic “own goals”
“Maradona, blessed dream” is a series in 10 episodes that tells the human and sporting parable of the legendary Pibe de Oro. The first eight are already available on Amazon Prime Video: undoubtedly it is a product of great artistic value, with a very good Homemade Nazareno in the role of Diego in the golden years, an excellent supporting cast (including Riccardo Scamarcio in the role of the Camorra e Giovanni Esposito in those of Corrado Ferlaino) and a compelling narrative intertwining, admittedly halfway between real facts and fictional details. In episode number 6, however, there is a historical error that made all Napoli fans and football lovers in general jump in their seats.
Maradona: the mockery of Platini and the interview with Galeazzi
The episode in question concerns the match between Napoli and Juventus in the 1985/86 championship, decided by a phenomenal goal from Maradona on an indirect free kick in the Juventus penalty area. In an infinitesimal space, Diego managed to get around the Juve barrier and put the ball at the intersection of the goalposts, making vain the dive of Stefano Tacconi. Considered as one of the most brilliant feats of the Argentine’s career, that goal allowed Napoli to win 1-0, inflicting on Juve the first defeat of the championship, after eight successes in the first eight days. At the end of the season the bianconeri still won the Scudetto, but that victory remained in the hearts of the Neapolitan fans, also given the historic rivalry with the Piedmontese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAWIgKcwPyU
The Napoli-Juve rivalry and the sensational mistake on the stadium
But if it recalls a happy moment in the history of Napoli, then where is the problem of the “Maradona, blessed dream” series? The reporter of the match with Juventus, obviously added in the production of the series, presents the challenge with the team of Michel platini saying that you play at the Stadio Delle Alpi, even if the images clearly relate to the San Paolo Stadium in Naples, where the match on November 3, 1985 was actually played. The Stadio Delle Alpi was that of Turin, but, moreover, it didn’t even exist at the time: it would only be inaugurated for the 1990 World Cup! In those years both Juve and Torino played at the Stadio Comunale, which today is the home of the grenades and is called “Olimpico Grande Torino”. Juve, as is known, now plays at the Stadium, built on the ashes of the Delle Alpi. A notable historical mess, but also a disgrace to the fans: confusing the Napoli stadium with that of Juve also means ignoring a profound historical rivalry. Compounding the situation is the fact that today the San Paolo Stadium bears the name of Diego Armando Maradona, a fitting homage to the exploits of the legendary number 10. And that it is the series about his life that gets the name wrong is really curious!
Naples-Lazio: the statue of Diego arrives one year after his death
Own at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium a special commemoration is scheduled to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of the Argentine champion, which took place on November 25, 2020. On November 28, before Napoli-Lazio, it will be presented to the public a life size statue of the Pibe de Oro. After the tour of the celebratory field, the monument will be placed in the changing rooms of the stadium, in the presence of the five children legally recognized by Maradona, including Diego Junior, born from extramarital affair with Cristiana Sinagra. Stefano Ceci, a friend and manager of Diego at the time of Napoli, is taking care of the celebrations, which also include the special celebratory shirts shown against Verona (7 November) and which will also be re-proposed against Inter (21 November) and for the last time against Lazio. Curiously, Lazio was the first to complain about the contents of the “Maradona, blessed dream” series, but in their case the stadium has nothing to do with it.
Maradona and the challenge against the “fascists”
In episode number 5 of the series, the Napoli-Lazio match of the 1984/85 season is recalled, ended 3-0 with a hat-trick from Maradona, including a 40-meter lob that also features in the film library of the Argentine ace’s most spectacular goals. In the reconstruction of the series, we see the teams enter the field and then the “Pelusa” making a particular motivational speech to his teammates, saying: “Today these fascists want to humiliate us. They want to see us on our knees, in our house, we won’t let them, we’ll fight for every ball … ”. The fact that Maradona was so irrepressible during the 90 minutes is therefore explained by the particular determination that animated him before the Lazio match, in which it is not difficult to grasp the reference to the political ideas of Diego, who said about himself: “I am completely left-wing, from the foot I use to play to the way I think”.
Lazio’s protest against the Amazon Prime Video series
Lazio was very angry about that scene, as explained in an official statement: “We let the public judge the quality of the Amazon Prime series. But we can certainly define ridiculous those few seconds that we have seen, in which in a completely arbitrary and improbable way words that he would never have uttered are attributed to the Argentine champion: ‘Those fascists want to humiliate us’. Lazio at the time was certainly not in the ideal condition to stop a team fighting for the Scudetto. Let alone to humiliate her. And then the reference to fascism, all the more hateful because it is evoked with a clear defamatory intent. In short, we have succeeded in the extraordinary result of insulting a supporter and a club, deviating from reality and also from the thought of Maradona himself, who has shown on many occasions to be friend of Lazio: he was a guest in Formello, he sang our anthem, he swapped shirts with our players. We will assert our rights to Amazon Prime Video and to the authors, the director and the screenwriters, asking as far as we are concerned that a scene as improbable as it is painful, which lacks respect for Lazio and the memory of a great champion, be cut ”.
“Maradona, blessed dream”: the last two episodes are coming
Is Lazio right to consider that scene defamatory or is it a legitimate narrative device by the authors who explain in the initial sign that the story is “inspired by real facts, but with some elements of fantasy?”. Apparently, it will be a judge to rule on the merits of the affair.
Certainly that own goal remains in having confused the stadium of Napoli with that of Juve, which did not please the Azzurri fans. A stain on a product, as mentioned, definitely very appreciable and whose last two episodes will be available on Amazon Prime Video respectively from 19 and 26 November. Not to be missed, for those who love football even apart from cheering.