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Maradona was “kindhearted guy” overwhelmed by his persona, lawyer says

Buenos Aires, Mar 10 (EFE).- Diego Maradona (1960-2020) was a victim of his own success and the accompanying renown, according to attorney Ricardo Gil Lavedra, who represented the late Argentine soccer great during a difficult period.

“Of very humble origin, when you suddenly find yourself with a fame that makes you the most-known person on the planet, more than the pope … how do you endure it?,” the lawyer asked rhetorically during an interview with EFE in Buenos Aires.

Gil Lavedra, a distinguished jurist whose career has included serving as justice minister, helped Maradona avoid prosecution after the captain of the Argentine national team that won the World Cup in 1986 was arrested here in April 1991 and charged with cocaine possession.

The arrest followed Maradona’s suspension by Napoli after he tested positive for cocaine in a routine anti-doping check.

Gil Lavedra persuaded the Argentine court to quash the drug-possession charge against Maradona in exchange for the player’s agreeing to enter rehab.

“I was Maradona’s attorney in the period between the suspension he had after Napoli, and when he returned to Argentina and the subsequent departure for Sevilla,” the lawyer told EFE, adding that he retains a “great memory” of the star.

“I say great memory because he seemed to me a very intelligent, very intelligent, and very kindhearted person. A guy with a great heart and great sensitivity, with a very serious drawback: that it is generally in these cases that the personality ends up smashing the person. It’s very difficult, no?”

“Because these people can’t have a normal life. Maradona couldn’t walk down the street, he couldn’t go to a restaurant,” the attorney said.

Comparing Maradona with the current icon of Argentine football, Lionel Messi, Gil Lavedra said that the man who led the Albiceleste to victory in World Cup 2022 has found a “distinct” way to cope with the pressures of fame. EFE

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