In March of 1980, top Chilean football team Colo-Colo invited Argentinos Juniors, featuring in their squad a 19 year old rising superstar called Diego Armando Maradona, to play an exhibition match at the National Stadium of Santiago de Chile. The main goal was to raise support for a financially struggling Colo-Colo. Maradona was already a sensation and everybody wanted to jump on that bandwagon. He would even receive an award by local authorities at the start of the game.
Ironically, and even though everybody was expecting a festive and spectacle oriented evening, Maradona would end up leaving the field in a stretcher after being savagely tackled throughout the entire game by Colo-Colo's defenders, causing the irate response of many fans present at the crowd. He even had to check during two hours in the emergency room of a hospital before flying back to Argentina. His legs had been suffering a brutal beating during the entire night. It seemed the only way to stop a player that was simply unstoppable. The new phenomenon of world football.
TVN, the National Television of Chile - / @tvn_chile - recently uploaded the entire game in their channel in a pretty decent quality, so I dediced to compile a highlight package of that night for all of you that love watching El 'Pelusa' play. As always, hope you enjoy it.
#maradona #futbol #argentina