CELEBRITY
REVEALED 30 YEARS AFTER; MARADONA QUALIFIED FOR RED CARD BEFORE 1990 WORLD CUP FINAL MATCH!
Diego Maradona could have been shown a red card before the 1990 World Cup final after swearing ‘profusely’ during the national anthems – according to the referee in charge, who he later called a ‘thief’, a report by UK’s Daily Mail has revealed.
Maradona and Argentina managed to reach the final against West Germany at that edition of the tournament but went on to lose the clash 1-0, having two men sent off in the process.
Pedro Monzon and Gustavo Dezotti were both dismissed by referee Edgardo Codesal.
And Codesal has now suggested Maradona might have been lucky himself that he was in charge, as another official would have had enough reason to send him off.
‘I could have sent him off before the game started as he was swearing profusely during the national anthem,’ Codesal told Uruguayan outlet Tirando Paredes when he was asked about dealing with Maradona.
‘Later when I decided to send off Monzon, Maradona approached me and claimed I was a thief and on the FIFA payroll.
‘I saw Maradona do some remarkable things on the pitch and also saw that his knee had ballooned from aggressive tackling.
‘As a player he was the best but as a person he was an unpleasant person and one of the worst I’ve gotten to know in my life.’
Maradona was quoted at the time as suggesting Codesal did not want Argentina to win the game, having seen West Germany win the game through a controversial 85th minute penalty.
‘Our players ran hard, but then came this man who ruined everything for us,’ Maradona said in 1990.
‘This man was scared that we would get to penalties. He wanted to make the Italian people happy. The black hand of this man expelled Monzon for a normal action, and later he called a penalty against us from his imagination.
‘I have been crying for a long time. Football has been my life and I wasn’t crying because we got second place, but because of the way we lost. This man didn’t have any right to call that penalty.’
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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