Diego Maradona has reacted angrily after Napoli, the club where he spent seven sensational years at the peak of his career, appeared to ignore the 30th anniversary of a memorable cup final in which he led them to a resounding win.
Maradona, a two-time Serie A winner in Naples, captained the team at their San Paolo home as they thrashed Juventus 5-1 on September 1, 1990, asserting their eminence after they had won Serie A the previous season.
Napoli humiliated the Bianconeri on the day but have not won the league since that year and have arguably never had a player as great as Maradona, who ended his 188-match, 81-goal career at the club at the end of the following season.
“I still have time,” said the Argentina great, announcing the anniversary to his following of more than 5.8 million on Instagram, alongside a photo of the Napoli squad he was a part of and with which he reached glorious heights at the end of the 1980s.
“I am sorry that the [people do] not remember these results that made us great. I say this for myself and my companions, who wrote the story of my beloved Naples.”
The 1986 World Cup winner namechecked his teammates for posterity beneath the post, including future Chelsea striker Gianfranco Zola and long-serving Italy defender Ciro Ferrara.
Napoli’s social media team, who issued a series of tweets earlier this week calling media coverage of their players “embarrassing” after they were spotted carrying out cryotherapy in bins, apologized to their former leader.
“Maradona is right,” they accepted. “We forgot to remember the victory in the Super Cup against Juventus in 1990. We missed the date of the anniversary.
“We remember all important dates like this one. We apologize to the fans and to Diego.”
Maradona ha ragione. Ci siamo dimenticati di ricordare la vittoria della Supercoppa contro la Juventus del 1990. Ci è sfuggita la data della ricorrenza. Ricordiamo tutte le date importanti come questa! Ci scusiamo con i tifosi e con Diego.? #ForzaNapoliSempre
The post did little to placate angry supporters. “The reason is simple,” one replied. “You don’t give a sh*t about history.”
Maradona left Napoli in 1992 after suffering a succession of personal problems and serving a 15-month drugs ban, with his number 10 shirt subsequently retired by the Azzurri.
The formidable forward retired in 1997 after scoring a fraction of the goals he had managed at the San Paolo during the next five years, beginning a managerial career in 1997 that currently sees him at Argentinian side Gimnasia, where he showed clips of himself conducting training on Instagram.
“Very happy to be back at Gimnasia following all the protocols of my doctor,” he added.
