The day I watched Diego Maradona - and the game kicked off when HE wanted it to

Football stadiums around the world have staged tributes to Diego Maradona since his death at the age of 60 last week / Picture: Getty

Sport has just lost the most famous sportsman of his day – Diego Armando Maradona – the villainous, but charismatic Elvis Presley of football, just 26 days after his 60th birthday. And, while working in South America, it was my privilege to see the great man play.

Maradona’s home stadium – La Bombonera (the Chocolate Box), nestling among the tango bars and brightly coloured houses by the river – was considered too dangerous a venue for the Boca Juniors match versus Racing (“Rassing”) that I was fortunate to attend. Football can be like war in the region, after all, a Colombian footballer, Andres Escobar, was shot dead following an own goal incident eliminating his team from the World Cup. So, a neutral ground was necessary and, for safety reasons, the instructions were to arrive early and leave well before the end.

At the ground our party was escorted to our seats, which were ceremoniously wiped down for us. There had been a dispute over the start time. The TV Channel wanted an earlier commencement than Maradona, who claimed it would be too hot to kick off at the broadcaster’s hour. Negotiations had ensued and a compromise agreement seemingly reached, but, at the appointed time, no Boca players were to be seen. Eventually they took the field, only for Maradona to run back into the stadium. And, after he had re-emerged and re-tied his bootlace, the clock had ticked round to the time he had nominated.