NAPLES, Nov 26: If there�s one place outside Argentina that will likely match � or possibly even exceed � the outpouring of mourning for Diego Maradona, it�s in Naples.
While Maradona was revered around the world as perhaps the greatest soccer player ever, in Naples he was more than that.
Maradona was treated as a deity for the way he led Napoli to its only two Serie A titles � in 1987 and 1990 � and raised the spirits of the southern Italian city, which remains far removed both geographically and socio-economically from the country�s soccer capitals of Milan and Turin.
�Maradona wasn�t just a player. He represented the spirit of Napoli for years,� said former Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino, who owned the club when Maradona played there.
Maradona�s spokesman, Sebastian Sanchi, said he died on Wednesday of a heart attack at the age of 60, two weeks after being released from a hospital in Buenos Aires following brain surgery.
Upon hearing the news, thousands of Neapolitans poured out into the city�s streets to honour Maradona and light candles in his memory � even though gatherings are banned because the city lies in a coronavirus red zone. Many of them stood below huge murals of their hero that cover entire sides of downtown buildings.
�It�s so emotional that you can�t say it with words, you can�t explain it,� said one local resident, Francesco Errico. �He gave us so much. He made us experience mind-blowing emotions.� � AP
