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| ©Nigel Summerley |
A new biography of soccer legend Diego Maradona makes the point that his life might have taken a different turn if he had signed for Sheffield United (who actually did make him an offer) rather than go on to play so spectacularly for Napoli.
Sheffield or Naples? Difficult choice, eh?
But according to Guillem Balagué's book, Maradona – The Boy, The Rebel, The God – it was in Naples that the great man was introduced to cocaine. And that was the start of a slippery slope towards disgrace.
Despite his all too human failings, Maradona is still worshipped in Naples. So much so that there is a shrine to him, right in the heart of the old city.
You can find the shrine at the entrance to the Bar Nilo in Via San Biagio dei Librai. It includes all kinds of memorabilia, but at its centre is its most impressive component: a strand of hair from the head of the man himself. It is encased in a glass block, which you can see pictured here, just below the central portrait of Maradona.
In this city of holy relics, bones, skulls and superstition, there seems nothing unusual about what amounts to a place of religious devotion focused on a remarkable soccer player. This is how mere mortals have become saints...
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