Scoring a New Goal –
June 27, 2018 – Maradona began taking cocaine in the mid-1980s, developing an addiction to both that and alcohol which would last until 2004. It was a problem for the Argentine at the peak of his career, which ran from 1976-1997, with him leading his country to World Cup glory in 1986 and winning Serie A with Napoli in 1987 and ’90. The drug use began whilst playing for Barcelona in 1982 and grew worse thanks to his mafia connections in Napoli, where he moved in 1984. In 2014 he told Argentina’s Tyc Sports: ‘I gave my opponents a big advantage due to my illness. Do you know the player I could have been if I hadn’t taken drugs?’ ‘I am 53 going on 78 because my life hasn’t been normal. I’ve lived 80 [years] with the life I’ve gone through.’
