Diego Maradona, one of the best ever, has passed away, aged just 60

It is with the heaviest of hearts that we report the news that Diego Maradona has passed away.

One of the greatest to ever play the game of football, one of the widest smiles and biggest hearts to boot, Diego Maradona touched lives all over the planet with his skill, his bravery, his genius. A man filled with unfiltered passion, Maradona played 91 times for Argentina across a peerless playing career that spanned from 1976 to 1997. He was a footballer without inhibition. He reimagined a new way for the game as he played with pure joy and craft and cheeky audacity every time he took to the pitch. Maradona lived and breathed football and, soon, anyone with a pulse and a half interest in the game, used Maradona as their own oxygen supply. In 1986, he dragged his country to the FIFA World Cup, a feat they haven't repeated since and, because of it, he carved himself into the hearts and minds of every Argentine who will walk the earth for generations and lifetimes to follow. Maradona isn't so much a household name as he is the centrepiece portrait of a household. He won two Serie A titles in Italy with Napoli and he won over a new audience in recent years with his beaming smile at Argentina games, his wild celebrations and, yes, his magical clips of days gone by. Maradona isn't what you'd call a YouTube footballer. His highlights reel alone would eat up the memory of the platform but it would be worth trying to upload every glorious touch of a ball he ever took. For educational purposes, of course, but also as an antidote to many of life's ills. Maradona's style was infectious, even if it was impossible to replicate. When you see someone playing with that much freedom and that much happiness, it liberates you. It made everyone feel better, except the poor bastards trying to chop him down at every turn but you'd like to think that, somewhere in those reckless and usually futile challenges, they saw the funny side of his greatness too, even if he was making every one of them the butt of the joke. He's the most iconic number 10 there ever was. He's synonymous with any debate you'd ever have about the best footballers that ever walked the planet. And, in the space of just 60 years, he lived a life that will be spoken about and worshipped for centuries to come. Thanks for everything, Diego. It's been a blessing just watching you have fun.

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