SAN FRANCISCO, November 28, (THEWILL) –Â In the 10th minute of the Serie A clash between Benevento and Juventus on Saturday, play was stopped as players and coaching staff from both teams paid tribute to the late Diego Armando Maradona.
The Argentine great lit up the Italian top flight during seven seasons with Napoli. He died of a heart attack at the age of 60 on Wednesday, November 25.
From across the sporting world and beyond, tributes have poured in this week, with a minute’s silence being held ahead of each Serie A game, during which players will wear, and have worn, black armbands.
In addition to these gestures, an image of Maradona was projected on stadium screens in the 10th minute of each fixture, marking the shirt number he wore, along with a “Ciao Diego” (“Goodbye Diego”) message.
Benevento and Juve players, including Argentina international Paulo Dybala, went a step further with their tributes during the honorary pause on Saturday for those present to applaud arguably the greatest ever footballer.
A reported by THEWILL, plans are already afoot in the city of Naples to rename their San Paolo stadium in Maradona’s honour. The football legend led Napoli to their only league titles in 1987 and 1990.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
