An emotional moment
Dalma Maradona, daughter of Diego, was left in tears as Boca Juniors players marked the first goal in their win over Newell’s Old Boys with a special tribute to her late father.
Boca, the club at which Maradona spent two spells during his career, were playing their first game since his death was announced last Wednesday and all wore jerseys with ‘Maradona’ printed on the back in place of each player’s name. Fittingly, the game was against one of his other former clubs in Newell’s.
After taking the lead in La Bombonera through an Edwin Cardona free-kick in the twelfth minute, Boca players made their way to the side of the pitch closest to where Dalma was watching the game. Placing a Maradona shirt on the turf, they gathered around it and offered a few seconds of applause.
Cameras cut to Dalma, who was seen crying at the tribute.
The raw emotion of Dalma Maradona, Diego’s daughter, upon receiving an ovation from Boca Juniors after scoring the game’s opening goal.
💙💛💙https://t.co/i7ScvTQcAh
— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) November 29, 2020
The game ended 2-0 to Boca, with Cardona scoring a second on 20 minutes.
Boca are the Argentine club with which Maradona is most closely associated. Despite beginning his career with Argentinos Juniors, he moved to Boca in 1981, making 40 appearances for them before his high-profile move to Barcelona the following year. After returning to Argentina with Newell’s towards the end of his playing career, he rejoined Boca soon after, finishing his playing career there.
In the years since his retirement, Maradona was a regular attendee at Boca’s iconic Bombonera stadium, where he had a box.
