“Diego Maradona had bad luck at Barcelona,” Joan Gaspart tells The Athletic.
Gaspart was the Barca vice-president who flew to Buenos Aires to help organise Maradona’s world-record transfer to the Camp Nou back in 1982.
He was also heavily involved as the Argentinian left for Napoli just two years later in another record move.
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During two seasons in the Blaugrana shirt, his first steps in European football after arriving aged 21, Maradona helped Barca win three trophies, including two cup final victories over Real Madrid. He showed why he would later be counted as one of the best players in football history, scoring 38 goals and providing 23 assists in 58 matches.
His time in Spain was also marked by worrying illness and serious injury, and there were glimpses of the personal problems that would later harm his career and his health.
Before Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg, which brings Napoli to Barcelona, Gaspart relives a mix of feelings — joy at the moments Maradona brought, regret at how short it was, and frustration over what might have been.
“When Diego was with us, we marvelled at the player he was,” Gaspart, 79, says.
“He played many great games. He was a great kid and on the pitch, he was different, the best, but he could not always enjoy playing for Barca.”
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As Maradona emerged at first club Argentinos Juniors, Barca were watching closely. The first contact came in 1978, with Barca’s Argentine-born director Nicolau Casaus, ‘scout’ Josep Maria Minguella and Gaspart all involved, but Barca president Jose Luis Nunez would not sanction the $100,000 fee required.
After an 18-year-old Maradona starred in Argentina’s 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship triumph in Japan, Barca tried again. This time, Maradona and Argentinos Juniors agreed terms with Barca, but Carlos Alberto Lacoste of Argentina’s military government refused to allow the move. Maradona was instead loaned to Boca Juniors in 1981.
Before the 1982 World Cup, Barca pushed a third time. Gaspart returned to Buenos Aires, along with president Nunez and Minguella. This time, Lacoste was kept abreast of the talks, which were successful.
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“The first time Barca wanted to sign Maradona, when he played for Argentina Juniors, there was no chance,” Gaspart says. “Later, Boca were convinced to sell Diego. He was excited and motivated to play in Europe, at Barcelona, but the most important issue in any transfer is generally money, how much you are willing to pay.”
Nunez saw Maradona as a strategic signing, an investment to boost the profile of the club with fans and sponsors. The official fee was 1.2billion Spanish pesetas, translating into $5.1m (£4m at today’s rates) to Argentinos Juniors and $2.2m to Boca, with Maradona to earn around $500,000 each year of a six-year contract. All involved were satisfied, but Argentine fans were not.
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“The Boca fans did not want Diego to leave,” Gaspart recalls. “They protested against the transfer. The atmosphere around the hotel where I was staying led the police to recommend they accompany me all the way to the steps of the plane.”
Barca supporters were much happier, thronging the airport when Maradona flew in to sign his contract in mid-June.
“When Diego arrived in Barcelona, I went to pick him up from the airport,” Gaspart says. “These were super emotional and exciting moments. There were hundreds of thousands of fans waiting… well, I exaggerate a bit, but so many people were waiting at the airport. I met him off the plane and took him home in my car before we went to the club. That memory is very special.”
The euphoria continued as Maradona scored one and made two in a win over Real Valladolid on his official home debut and netted six goals and six assists in his first 13 La Liga games. His mazy dribbles and incisive passes illuminated the always physical and often dour 1980s Spanish football landscape. In his first Clasico, Maradona created both goals in a 2-0 win at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu. Even more spectacular was an audacious chip scored at Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup second round.
“Diego was surrounded by 10 players who were very good, too,” Gaspart says. “But he was the best player in the world. You knew if you could get him the ball, there would be a much better chance it would soon end up in the opposition net. He could do marvellous things.”
Maradona’s relationship with his supposed ‘bosses’ was not always so positive, however. Self-made construction millionaire club president Nunez was angered when he asked for extra money to play a charity friendly against Bordeaux, then used the cash to pay for a team night out. German coach Udo Lattek despaired especially of Maradona’s timekeeping, even ordering the team bus to leave without him for one away game.
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Along with wife Claudia, mother Dona Tota, sister Maria and her husband Gabriel, Maradona was living in a huge house in the city’s wealthy Pedralbes neighbourhood. It had a swimming pool (which he immediately decorated with a Barca crest), tennis court and barbecue space with spectacular views of the city below.
The ‘Clan Maradona’ also included regular house guests and visitors. Many were Argentinians already living in the city, including Jorge Vallejos, a former professional footballer who now ran a pizzeria called ‘Corrientes 348’. The mansion became famous for fun living and food — whatever time of day or night.
Closest of all to Maradona was Jorge Cyterszpiler, a childhood friend who was now his agent. Still in his early twenties himself, Cyterszpiler organised commercial deals with Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Agfa. A company called Maradona Productions began filming A Life of Maradona, which Cyterszpiler planned to distribute worldwide in 12 languages.
The ideal start ended in December 1982, when Maradona fell ill and spent 12 weeks holed up in his mansion, with the media outside. There were two versions of the problem. Barca said he was suffering from viral hepatitis, while widespread rumours said gonorrhoea.
The rumours were linked to stories of Maradona and his ‘clan’ enjoying the nightlife in the Catalan capital. These were hedonistic times, post-Franco, and the city centre had a seedy side far from the tourist-friendly theme park it can seem today.
Maradona later said himself that he first tried cocaine when in Barcelona. Team-mates and clan members have always denied knowledge of any drug taking, saying Diego’s partying was fueled by “whisky-cola”. He was even asked by city mayor Pascual Maragall to appear in an anti-drug campaign with the slogan, ‘Enjoy Life, Drugs Kill’.
Asked if he had seen any sign then of the issues which would later plague Maradona’s professional and personal life, Gaspart says no, repeatedly.
“If there were problems then, I would have known about them and intervened, for the feeling I had for him,” Gaspart says. “When he was at Barca, even when he couldn’t play, including with the illness, Diego always behaved very correctly. Later, it was something different.”
By the time Maradona was back available in mid-March, Lattek had been replaced as coach by Cesar Luis Menotti, who had managed Argentina to World Cup success in 1978.
Maradona was happier under his fellow countryman, who famously moved training to mid-afternoon as it suited the lifestyles of both men. The team’s form remained uneven and they finished fourth in La Liga, six points behind winners Athletic Bilbao — but with Maradona finding top form, they qualified for the Copa del Rey and Copa de La Liga finals, both against Real Madrid.
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In early June, Barca beat Madrid 2-1 in the Copa del Rey final, with Maradona setting up Victor for their first goal. Later that month, Menotti’s side also claimed the Copa de la Liga title, helped along the way by a coolly converted goal by Maradona at the Bernabeu as Los Blancos defender Juan Jose famously collided painfully with a post.
“Diego showed in those games that he was a special player,” Gaspart says. “We’re always happy when we win and when we beat Madrid, the joy is doubled.”
The expectation for 1983-84 was that with Maradona now more settled in Catalonia, the team could build on that success. However, just weeks into the season a terrible tackle by Athletic Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea fractured his ankle.
“That was a very important moment,” Gaspart says. “It was a strong challenge, hard, but within the world of football. Goikoetxea did not have the intention of doing the damage he did, but there was a lot of damage. Diego was unable to play for a long time.”
Cyterszpiler characteristically made the most of the situation by producing a film showing the operation and recovery, set to music from the films Rocky and Flashdance, which was sold to Catalan TV. Maradona was back playing by early January and three weeks later he scored twice in a 2-1 win against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames.
It was too late to save Barca’s La Liga season, though, and Maradona was also unable to prevent a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Manchester United in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Gaspart was among the directors who still regarded Maradona as a genius worth indulging, but president Nunez was much less patient.
There was further tension ahead of that year’s Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao, with memories of Goikoetxea’s tackle still vivid. An unruly game was decided by an early goal from Athletic’s Endika Guarrotxena, but players had their own scores to settle. After the full-time whistle, karate-style kicks and punches were traded for some minutes in dramatic violent scenes, with Maradona giving and taking a battering.
“We had lost and emotions were high,” Gaspart says. “When that happens, sometimes it can end up with a brawl. It is not a happy memory. It was very violent. That happens when the winner does not know how to win and above all, when the loser does not know how to lose.”
Maradona was banned for three months, but that was soon unimportant, as Czysterpiller had already been talking to Italian clubs. Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino was prepared to offer $8million to Barca and significantly improve Maradona’s salary.
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Gaspart says he pleaded with Maradona to stay while knowing that financial realities made that unlikely. Maradona and Czysterpiller wanted the money and Nunez wanted rid of what he now saw as a problem.
“I said, ‘Diego, don’t go, stay here’,” Gaspart says. “But when a person you really like and respect, like Diego, asks you to leave, you have to understand. Diego wanted a change of scene, another country, another football. Napoli were willing to double his salary and their offer was also difficult for Barca to turn down.”
Over seven years at Napoli, Maradona drove the previously unfashionable Serie A side to two league titles and a UEFA Cup victory. He received the universal acclaim and acceptance that he never found in Catalonia.
Even as he led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup and was clearly the greatest player in the world, there was never any serious talk of a return to the Camp Nou. He would later call his time at Barcelona the “saddest” of his career, while Barca moved on with new heroes like Johan Cruyff, Ronaldinho and especially another Argentinian, Lionel Messi.
“It was a pity,” Gaspart says. “If we had been able to see what Diego was later capable of, maybe Barca would have proposed something more. If we all knew the winning numbers in the lottery, we would be millionaires.”
Gaspart says he did not keep in close contact with Maradona in the following years, but their strong bond was clear again when they met at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. During that tournament, the Argentinian’s personal issues were very clear, including an apparent problem with alcohol.
“Diego was always very affectionate with me, but he was going through a bad time with the problems he had,” Gaspart says. “I scolded him. A lot. I told him to be careful, to stop doing certain things he was doing. The same way I would have treated my own son in those circumstances and he was like a son to me.”
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Maradona never played for Napoli against Barcelona and, during his late-career spell at Sevilla (1992-93), he took on his former side just once, but not at the Camp Nou. Barca fans never got to welcome back their old player, who died aged 60 in November 2020.
A few days after his death, Messi scored a Maradona-esque solo goal for Barca and recalled his boyhood hero, later international coach, during the celebration.
Barca and Napoli have met quite regularly in recent seasons, but figures on both sides will again remember the player they have in common, with older Barca fans particularly recalling the connection made with Maradona during two years that featured so much and hinted at much more.
“We all have negative things in our lives, but I prefer to think of the positive side,” Gaspart says.
“I had the enormous good fortune to know one of the best players in the world. I remember when he was ill, I went to visit him at his house. He was lying in bed. We spent long periods just talking about different things, our families more than football. He really loved his family and had a true admiration for his mother. They were such nice moments, to be able to enjoy his friendship, his affection. Then, of course, I enjoyed his football.”
(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
