Furious Diego Maradona hurls insults at rival fans
Maradona’s team, Dorados of Sinaloa, lost Sunday’s second-leg championship match to Atletico San Luis in extra-time, missing out on the title and a chance at promotion by an aggregate score of 4-3.
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona hurled insults at fans of an opposing team and had to be restrained from attacking them after they jeered his coaching loss Sunday in Mexico’s second-division final.
Maradona’s team, Dorados of Sinaloa, lost Sunday’s second-leg championship match to Atletico San Luis in extra-time, missing out on the title and a chance at promotion by an aggregate score of 4-3.
After the match, San Luis supporters taunted him as he left the stadium, shouting, “Eat it Maradona!”
In videos posted online, Maradona can be seen trying to lunge at the fans as security guards hold him back.
“You sons of bitches, come say that to my face!” he shouted amid a foul-mouthed tirade.
The security guards eventually ushered him into an elevator and out of the stadium.
Maradona, 58, had to watch the match from the stands, after being sent off near the end of Dorados’s 1-0 first-leg victory for launching an insult-laced tirade at officials when he thought his team should have been awarded a penalty.
Maradona raised eyebrows when it was announced in September he was taking the managing job at struggling Dorados, who were then in 13th place in their 15-team league.
Skeptics questioned what interest the 1986 World Cup champion, who has publicly battled drug addiction and alcoholism, could have in moving to a place better known for drug cartels than football.
But he answered his critics with an emphatic series of wins, improbably coaching the team to the finals and within striking distance of promotion to the first division.