RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A shower of soccer balls accompanied the inauguration of the largest monument dedicated to Maradona in Argentina, as crowds of children celebrated the gift beneath the image of a smiling Diego.
“All these people gathered here to see this monument being unveiled is one more demonstration of the deep eternal love that people have bestowed on someone who earned it,” said commentator and friend of the ex-footballer, Uruguayan Víctor Hugo Morales, one of the inauguration’s hosts.
The event moved this small coastal town of barely 8,000 inhabitants in the province of Buenos Aires, which now houses the largest monument erected in Argentina in honor of the captain of the Mexico 1986 World Cup winning team.
The work is a 13-meter-high concrete monolith with Maradona’s face crowned by a ball, both made of steel tubes. Created by artist Sebastián Martino, the work is called “Amada mía” (My Beloved) in reference to the romance between the soccer star and the ball.
“Never in my life had I made anything this monumental and with such an incredible team of people, to see it taking shape according to what I wanted it to be, to what I dreamed and sketched, when I saw it finished, it was a dream come true, it was very exciting,” Martino said.
The inauguration featured the projection of footage of several moments in the star’s life, who died on November 25, 2020 in Buenos Aires due to cardiorespiratory failure, days after undergoing successful surgery for a hematoma on the head.
Also on Saturday, Argentine soccer league matches paused at the 10-minute mark as a tribute to the sports idol.