Diego Maradona’s son, 11, announces football desire as he ‘misses phone calls with dad’

The youngest son of Diego Maradona announced his ambitions to become a goalkeeper in an emotional interview about his iconic father. Diego Fernando Maradona, 11, was only eight years old when his father passed away after suffering a heart attack at the age of 60 years old. 

Three days of mourning were declared in Argentina when Maradona passed away, which saw thousands of people in the country take to the streets in tears. Now he is at the age where most children enter secondary school, young Diego still has memories of the 1986 World Cup winner.

While he can always watch videos of his father’s finest performances, the child still misses one thing that cannot be recreated. He would give anything to pick up the phone and speak to his father again.

His mother Veronica Ojeda gave permission to Argentine outlet Clarin to speak to Maradona’s youngest. When asked about his father, he said: “It moves me. Yes, it moves me. I like remembering when he called me and we talked on the phone.”

With memories of his father still fresh in his head, he appears to have some ambition of creating his own legacy in football. However, he does not want to mimic everything Maradona did.

The boy added: “I don’t know if one day I’ll play football. I don’t know if I’ll do it. I told mum that I wanted to play football and in the end, I was terrible.”

When asked what position he sees himself playing in, he said: “Now I want to be a goalkeeper, like Dibu Martinez,” referring to the Aston Villa shot-stopper who was instrumental in Argentina’s World Cup and two consecutive Copa America victories.

Although he never had the chance to watch his famous father play live, he has watched numerous videos of the footballing icon, who is widely considered as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He laughed: “I knew how my dad played.

“I was a fan of my dad. The one [goal] I like most is the one he scored against the English.”

Maradona is eternally celebrated for his outstanding displays that led Argentina to their unforgettable victory at the World Cup in 1986. His death on November 25, 2020, saw the then-President Alberto Fernandez declare three days of national mourning, with tributes flooding in from greats such as Lionel Messi and others.

The Argentine national team would capture World Cup glory once again two years later. In a tribute to Maradona, the players hoisted Messi onto their shoulders and told him to lift the trophy, in an emotional nod to Maradona’s iconic photograph in the Azteca Stadium in 1986.