«Messi is unique, dad is another. I cried with joy and sadness»- Corriere.it

«After the birth of my children it was the greatest joy of life», Diego Maradona Jr he is not a man of easy emotions. And he doesn’t like to express them either. Messi lifting the Cup was the image that broke the banks, the most intimate ones (“I cried, laughed and cried again. Pain and joy, I fought all my life to be Argentine”). When Argentina won the World Cup, Diego junior was not yet born. But the heir to D10s probably already had its fate sealed. Son of the great Diego, fruit of the denied love between his mother Cristiana and the footballer who at that time was already on the roof of the world, he comes to light a few months later (September 1986) and the battle to get to know his father begins practically immediately . It’s long and difficult. He wins it, just thirty years old he meets Diego, slowly becomes his son in the truest sense. He tries to make up for lost time, he finds peace and serenity. Maradona died in November two years ago – November 2020 – and it is the first great pain of Diego jr, who quickly lost his point of reference, he had to surrender to the farewell of his best friend (“yes, that was it too”). The most important man in the way of him.

Diego, do you feel more Neapolitan or Argentinian?

«I have had an Argentine passport for two and a half years and this aspect, which to most may appear as a formality, has represented a conquest of identity for me. Naples and Buenos Aires are much closer than it might seem, I am the son of an Argentine god – and for me it is like this – I am the son of his land. I knew that Naples would celebrate Argentina’s victory, but I too was amazed at the size of the party, at the strong feeling I perceived in the street».

In the sign of Maradona and that’s it, in your opinion?

«Meanwhile, half of the population in Argentina is the result of immigration from Italy. Do you know from where? From the South, from Naples in particular. I feel at home every time, and for me every time it’s like regretting the time I didn’t live dad. Each time it’s a joy and a pain, hard to explain. How difficult it was to make sense, even to myself, of the desperate tears of Sunday evening after Argentina’s victory».

Tell us where it was. And who was she with?

“We watched the match at home with my wife, our little girls and some Argentinian friends. At the final whistle I burst into tears, I couldn’t contain myself. No, it wasn’t emotion and that’s it. It was pain. Sadness mixed with joy of course. But it was as if a wound had suddenly reopened. I cried nonstop. Since dad is gone, all the things that refer to him give me pain. That final was his match, and it was also his victory. Unfortunately he was unable to see her, we were unable to rejoice together. Dad passed on his sense of belonging to Argentina to me, I know how much he defended his land. And how attached he was to that shirt. Like me, he would have cried when Messi raised the Cup to the sky.”

Here, Messi. A passing of the baton?

“I don’t know, I really can’t say that. Messi is my captain, the only footballer in the world who had the right to lift that cup. Which for the Argentine people represents a reconquest after 36 years. My father is different.”

Does she also lend herself to the comparison?

«Never, I find the debates on the subject tiresome, let alone going into this area. Messi is a wonderful footballer, my father is a superhero. He is the strongest in the world ».

Well he took sides though…

“I’m biased. And you have to give it to me. My love for him goes beyond football and the unique things he showed us on the pitch. Now I can’t wait to catch the plane that will take me back to him. On December 23rd I’m going to Argentina».

Did you decide after the final?

«No, it was a planned trip: I need to spend some time with him and with my sisters. And then I have some work commitments relating to a documentary film about my life and some scenes have to be shot there».

Will he see his sisters? What is your relationship with them?

“Surely. Good relationships, let’s say normal ».

He cried at the final whistle, and then what?

“I realized. And I thanked Mbappé, another great man, who was about to spoil our party. I went out, I wanted to stay on the street. Arriving in Piazza Dante, it seemed to me that I was in Buenos Aires. That’s where my joyous celebration also began: two united peoples, united forever. And do you know why? It’s the greatest thing dad ever did. He united and never divided. He has created love between his two peoples of himself. No one can do this, ever again. It is the victory of his heart.”