Diego Maradona: funeral workers dismissed after photos with corpse

Dthree funeral home employees have posed for photos next to the body of football idol Diego Maradona and have therefore been fired. Claudio Fernández assured the Diez radio station on Friday that he was surprised by the action.

In one of the photos he can be seen with his son Ismael at Maradona’s open coffin, the son with his thumb raised. Another picture shows the third employee in a similar pose.

For many Argentinians, the images of the dead football icon that are spread on the Internet are tantamount to sacrilege. There were angry comments. Fernández said he had even received death threats. “They know me. I’m from the neighborhood, ”said his father from the El Paternal neighborhood, where Maradona began his professional career in 1976 at Club Argentinos Juniors. “They say they will kill us.”

Maradona died of a heart attack on Wednesday at the age of 60. Before the funeral a day later, there were chaotic scenes because thousands of fans had tried in vain to say goodbye to the coffin that had been laid out in the presidential palace.

Fernández asserted that he did not know anything about the plans of the other two shortly before the funeral and certainly nothing about the fact that the pictures should be distributed on the Internet. “It was something immediate. I just lifted my head and my son reacted like any child of 18 years. “

The football club Argentinos Juniors – where Maradona began his professional career and whose stadium is named after him – announced that the termination of membership of one of the men had been initiated. “In my friend’s memory, I will not rest until he pays for such a derailment,” wrote Maradona’s lawyer, Matías Morla

Maradona’s daughter writes to her father – new video of the legend

The day after Diego Maradona’s funeral, several posts in social media and pictures of the football legend moved people in his native Argentina. Maradona’s older daughter Dalma addressed him in an emotional text that she published on Instagram on Friday.

Among other things, it says: “I am destroyed, but I will get through! Wait for me there ”. The 33-year-old also wrote: “And if your granddaughter wants to call you via video call as before, I’ll die inside, but don’t worry: I’ll tell her exactly who you were, who you are and who you will always be!”

Argentine media also published one of the probably last recordings of Maradona before his death. The video shows the 1986 world champion walking past a house, leaning on other men. A small child calls out to him from inside the house, “Hello Diego,” and the national hero waves back.

“Maradona greeted me,” says the boy. According to reports, the video came from a private Instagram account of a Maradona’s neighbor in the gated neighborhood near Buenos Aires, where he spent the last two weeks of his life.

Beckenbauer to Maradona: genius who didn’t have his life under control

Franz Beckenbauer speaks of Maradona with respect but still critical. “He was always nice, always friendly when we saw each other. I liked him. He was a genius who obviously had lost control of his life in recent years. That couldn’t be overlooked, ”said the ex-world champion and world champion trainer in an interview with“ Bild ”.

“You tugged at him all your life. We can’t even imagine that in Germany. What they did to him was more than enthusiasm, that was hysteria. In Argentina as well as in Naples, “Beckenbauer (75) names some of the problems of the Argentine soccer idol.

On his personal encounters as the German team boss with Maradona, Beckenbauer said: “Two World Cup finals against Argentina, twice Diego was my biggest problem. In 1986 in Mexico it was at its peak and actually unstoppable. I only trusted Lothar Matthäus, who had to take him under cover. There wasn’t as much to be seen of Diego as usual. But we missed Lothar on the offensive. “

Beckenbauer takes the point of view that you shouldn’t compare footballers from different times. “Pelé was world champion three times. But right behind him comes Maradona for me. He was more than a footballer. He was an artist! ”He said nonetheless.