What Made Maradona So Special
Diego Maradona left us no world record or goals shipment to defend his legacy. But, he gave us to see the Grace, in all its states.
The one who just left this week was not just one of the best soccer players. Nor the best player of all time. His talent had stood out so well from statistical observations that it is still difficult to classify him, despite all our efforts to measure the performance of soccer players and our fervor to compare them.
A glance at the statistics of Maradona’s career reveals the balance of his prowess. And yet, only a small part of his work and talent can be glimpsed. Sorry for the inpatients, but Diego was not fast food. Even the synthesis of his performance indicators is not adequate to summarize the player, let alone his talent.
Our benchmarks are still imperfect to explore the immensity of his impact on the field (off the field, let’s not talk about it). To describe it, we can only put forward unskilled words, here and there, for lack of a better word.
Because, to really discover Maradona, we must go and see with our own eyes. So, advice from a friend, if you can’t go back in time, go and see the videos as they are. Don’t trust the wrong witnesses. Don’t let yourself be told by the numbers. Go see for yourself!
I won’t tell you the legend with numbers. Not because his talent is immeasurable (Who knows, maybe one day researchers will design a soccer I.Q.). But because all the difference of Diego, all his genius, is elsewhere. By the way, he’s gone and so far he challenges us to define him: as a player, he was so unique, that any classification has become not only difficult but also impertinent.
So let the analysts do the arithmetic of the precision of his shoots, his dribblings, and his passes. Let commentators count a thousand dimensions of the finesse of his play. Let the debaters discuss the common denominators of his vision against those of a Xavi or a Vorbe.
In the meantime, this quality that we find hard to gauge and that makes comparisons, futile and superlatives, out of place, let us just admire it and place it in the realm of Grace.
