Diego Maradona would have turned 66 today. This was his last Superclásico

October 30 is a special date for Argentine football, as every year fans take a moment to remember Diego Armando Maradona. The Argentine star, who would’ve turned 66 this Friday, passed away on November 25, 2020. If he were still around, the biggest celebration would’ve taken place this Sunday, as Boca Juniors takes on River Plate at La Bombonera.

A lifelong Boca fan, Maradona played for his beloved club twice in his career, first between 1981 and ‘82, and then at the twilight of his playing days from 1995 to ‘97. As fate would have it, El Diez’s final game in his career was a Superclásico appearance at the Monumental stadium.

That game, a 2-1 win for the Xeneize filled with legendary symbolism, turned 29 last Sunday, and we couldn’t think of a better time to look back on it.

A farewell that hung by a thread The match almost didn’t happen.

On August 24, 1997, Maradona tested positive for benzoylecgonine and ecgonine methyl ester, metabolites of cocaine.

Suspended by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Maradona went to court, citing a police report he filed in July claiming he had received phone calls threatening to plant drugs on him. 

Judge Claudio Bonadío confirmed those threats and issued an injunction ordering the AFA to lift the provisional suspension at the behest of the start, until further testing was completed. This allowed Maradona to feature in the game.

The controversy had its consequences. 

Maradona hadn’t played any official football in the month leading up to the Superclásico, only a 45-minute appearance against Chilean side Colo-Colo in an international competition, his last time on the pitch. 

His sparse appearances in Boca practice sessions suggested he was out of shape, and few expected him to play the whole 90 minutes.

A match with a lot at stake Going into the match, there was a lot more on the line than what was, at that time, Maradona’s return to action.

The Millonario was in the midst of its 1990s golden era, under the helm of former player Ramón Díaz. Coming off back-to-back Argentine football titles (Apertura ’96 and Clausura ’97), it arrived as the sole league leader.

Boca was in hot pursuit. Pushed by big signings like striker Martín Palermo, the Colombian duo Óscar Córdoba and Jorge Bermúdez, and the twins Guillermo and Gustavo Barros Schelotto, the Xeneize sat second in the championship and aimed to leapfrog the leaders with a win.

With so much at stake, the Boca coaching staff worried about what Maradona could bring to the team.

“The night before the match against River, we went to see him to suggest that, in our opinion, it was time for him to hang up his boots,” coaching staff member Esteban Pogany told InfoBae in 2022.

According to Pogany, Maradona agreed, and thanked them for allowing them to play against River in his last match. 

A shadow of his former self Tensions ahead of the game centered around El Diez’s meetup with the River head coach.

Once teammates on the 1979 Japan U-19 World Cup-winning team, they found themselves at odds after Italy 1990, with Díaz allegedly claiming Maradona had pushed him out of the squad. Despite it all, a cold handshake proved the respect was still there.

The game would not go down as one of Maradona’s greatest performances. By Pogany’s admission, just a few minutes in, the Boca coaching staff could see that he was “out of breath and exhausted”

Lacking timing and reaction speed, Maradona played a mistake-riddled first half and was largely neutralized by River’s defensive midfielder, Leonardo Astrada. 

Without Maradona’s inspiration, Boca went 1-0 down at halftime. The 1986 World Cup winner suffered a muscle injury and was subbed off. 

Yet it was then that perhaps the most important moment of the game happened. His replacement was no other than legendary Boca midfielder Juan Román Riquelme, then just 19.

Boca turned the game around to win 2-1, with goals by Julio Toresani — with whom Maradona had a famous spat right after returning to Boca in 1995 — and Martín Palermo.

A frenzied celebration The win sent Maradona on a frenzy. After the final whistle went, he entered the pitch shirtless and started making obscene gestures to the home fans.

At the press conference, he uttered another of his iconic phrases.

“Boca played Boca style and River played River style,” he said. “They played a great first half, but in the second they dropped their panties.”

The win saw the Xeneize snatch the top spot on the table, but it would be to no avail. River proved to be a more consistent team, regained the top spot soon, and went on to win the 1997 Torneo Apertura with 45 points, just one more than Boca.

Five days after the match, on the day he turned 37, Maradona announced he’d be retiring.

“This retirement is final,” he said in a press conference, admitting his father had asked him for it. “My family can’t keep suffering so much with every doping control, or having this wave of rumors surround us.”

For the players, it was a surprise. 

“At the dinner, in the hotel, he said nothing about it, so I think it’s something he figured out in the aftermath,” the former Boca player Diego Latorre told InfoBae in 2022.

In a career like Maradona’s, a 45-minute poor performance at 37 feels anecdotal. However, it serves as a big reminder of who he was, and what Boca vs. River means.

A World Cup winner, arguably the greatest player in history at the time, and adored by millions, he suited up one last time for the team he loved, in a game that can at times mean much more than the rest of the season combined. 

That’s what will be at stake come Sunday, one El Diez would never miss out.