Diego Maradona Died Of Sadness, Claims Long-Time Friend Stefano Ceci

Last week, Diego Armando Maradona, a deity of the global game, passed away, taking with him the childhood memories of generations and a quintessential part of the beautiful game he shaped. Following Maradona’s death, Argentina announced three days of national mourning and his body lay in state before burial. 

Maradona’s health had long been precarious. But after successful surgery to treat a blood clot on his brain, his recovery seemed optimistic. Slowly, however, more details are emerging about Maradona’s last months and moments. 

“He died of sadness,” Maradona’s long-time friend and former manager Stefano Ceci says, adding the soccer legend last seemed physically and psychologically healthy in Dubai in 2018. “His heart was full of sadness. In the last months, he started letting go. He decided it, as he always decided how to live his life.” 

Ceci’s words echo those of Maradona’s biographer Daniel Arcucci, who said in an interview with Argentinean newspaper La Nacion that “Diego began to suffer because he no longer felt Maradona.” The comments highlight the complexity of Maradona’s personality again. He was a man circumstanced by events. He attained divine status after the World Cup quarterfinal between England and Argentina in 1986, but Maradona always struggled with his life in the limelight. 

“He was tired; he was fed up,” Ceci says. “And he decided to go to the quietest place possible, with his mum and dad.”

Last Thursday, Maradona was buried in a private ceremony at the Bella Vista cemetery. His body was escorted from the presidential residence, Casa Rosada, to the cemetery on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. There, Maradona was laid to rest alongside his parents.

“He shouldn’t have left hospital to go home,” Ceci says. “He should have gone to therapy somewhere. A doctor should have stayed with him, at least for the first few months, and not a nurse who didn’t even know what to do.” 

The details of Maradona’s death remain unclear. His personal psychologist Carlos Díaz and his psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov found Maradona unresponsive, at which point his nephew and assistant were called to try and wake him, according to a statement from the local attorney investigating Maradona’s death.

“There weren’t any vital signs, so the nurse and psychiatrist came in and tried to perform CPR, but it was unsuccessful,” the statement says. “They asked for ambulances of different providers and in the meantime asked for a doctor…as well as a surgeon doctor who was a neighbor in the area.

“This man went upstairs and tried to reanimate the victim. Later on, the ambulances arrived along with the clinical doctor of the medical provider. He proceeded with resuscitation; he tried with syringes of adrenaline and atropine, finally declaring the death of the victim.”

Ceci, however, will treasure the time he spent with Maradona.

“When he was a star, a football player and I was watching him as a supporter from the stands, those were the best times with Diego,” Ceci says. “There were beautiful moments working with him. And there were beautiful moments in our personal lives. He always called me asking things. So, I enjoyed Maradona in three ways: as a supporter, manager and friend.”

Maradona’s spokesman and the player’s brother, Hugo Maradona, didn’t reply when prompted to comment.

Additional reporting by Johnny Georgopoulos.