Sports

Buenos Aires intersection becomes “Maradona Corner”

Buenos Aires, Nov 17 (EFE).- Eight days before the first anniversary of the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona, the city government of Buenos Aires renamed an intersection in his honor on Wednesday.

A plaque with the inscription “Diego Armando Maradona Corner” was attached to a building in the capital’s Villa Devoto neighborhood where the star lived for several years in the 1990s.

Accompanying the plaque at curbside is an elaborate new street sign with words and images evoking moments of Maradona’s life and career.

In the days and weeks following his death on Nov. 25, 2020 at the age of 60, hundreds of fans flocked to the building at Segurola and Habana 4310, erecting makeshift shrines to their hero amid a massive outpouring of grief.

The renaming of the intersection was proposed by municipal assemblyman Daniel Del Sol and won unanimous approval in the city’s legislature.

To Argentines, Maradona is a “synonym for happiness” who garnered international recognition his country by leading the national team to victory in the 1986 World Cup, Del Sol told Efe.

“For us Maradona was always an emblem of joy and happiness for all he gave us,” the lawmaker said.

The association of the building with the icon was burned into the public mind by Maradona himself on Oct. 7, 1995, when he gave out his address on live television following an Argentine league match between his Boca Juniors and Colon.

Maradona was seen arguing on the pitch during the match with Colon’s Julio Cesar Toresani.

“I told Toresani on the field that I live at Segurola and Habana 4310, seventh floor. I don’t have any problem if he comes looking for me,” Maradona said to reporters after the final whistle. EFE

jacb/dr

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