Legendary Inter captain and current club vice-president Javier Zanetti has reminisced about the late Diego Armando Maradona, who passed away in the middle of last week aged 60.
“The love that people had for Diego was incredible. The number of people who were in the city centre in Argentina is impressive, it was also a risk with the pandemic and they had to stop them,” he explained in a live stream with former Inter teammates Christian Vieri and Daniele Adani which was broadcast late last night.
“I grew up with him, when I was 12 I saw him win the World Cup. What he conveyed was incredible, he was a special person. When he spoke to you, you felt something special.
“There is great sadness, I was watching Argentinian TV and I thought he would recover from the illness he had had.”
Zanetti then went on to reflect about Maradona’s tenure in charge of the Argentine national team between 2008 and 2010.
“What he conveyed was unique. When he was Argentina coach he called me up for the friendly against France, I met him in the hotel corridor, he hugged me and told me we had to win because there were no friendlies for him.
“I was in a room with Burdisso, Maradona knocked on the door and sat with us, he told us about Napoli matches because he liked to speak about his experiences.”
Zanetti, who has made more appearances than anyone else in the 112 year history of Inter, then recalled a time where Maradona visited his restaurant in Milan.
“He was special, once he called me because he was coming to Milan to see an Inter match, he told me he wanted to come and eat at my restaurant, I prepared everything and he wasn’t there.
“I called him and he said he was annoyed because the driver couldn’t find my restaurant. In the end the dinner lasted until late at night, he liked these things, it made you feel good.”
In conclusion Zanetti spoke on where Maradona came from, how his career went and how the tribute Maradona’s daughter paid to her late father makes him feel.
“The neighbourhood he comes from is incredible, it’s absurd to think about the career he later had and the pressures he had to endure.
“The letter his daughter wrote to him is a moving thing, I can’t read it without crying. Now we have to remember the good things he did.”
Zanetti spent nearly 20 years on Inter’s books with him playing for the club between 1995 and 2014. He made no less than 858 appearances across all competitions for the club and captained the club to lots of silverware.
