But after an exceptional transfer window and with Luciano Spalletti at the helm, Napoli dominated the title race while their main rivals all suffered slumps during the season.
Maradona backs Venezuela's Maduro, signs for World Cup coverage
An Argentine football club has recreated the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of its gymnasium, with Diego Maradona as God, Lionel Messi as Adam and a host of angels that include Mario Kempes, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Batistuta.
Argentina are on a 36-match unbeaten run with top scorer and captain Messi playing his fifth and last World Cup in search of the elusive honour
In the streets of the capital, revellers partied early into the hours of Monday. Fans climbed onto bus stops and lamp-posts, blared horns, banged drums and set off fireworks into the night sky. Some even climbed the tall Obelisco monument.
He has won a Copa America, 11 league titles, four Champions League titles, three Club World Cups and three UEFA Super Cups. Now he has the most coveted one of all.
The comparison with Maradona for the title of the greatest Argentine player of all time cannot be complete without a world title, which the late Maradona won almost single-handedly 36 years ago.
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Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has allegedly been filmed fighting in the streets of Dubrovnik, Croatia outside a local nightclub to make his behaviour come under the spotlight once again.
A hat-trick from Vinicio Angulo helped get Diego Maradona's managerial career in Mexico off to the perfect start on Monday as his new club Dorados beat Tapachula 4-1 in Culiacan.
Maradona was a uniquely gifted player who rose from the tough streets of Buenos Aires to reach the pinnacle of his sport.
The stadium erupted in cheers once more with Fernandez's late strike which sealed Argentina's first win in the tournament and rekindled Messi's hopes of a first-ever World Cup title.
Here is what you need to know about their route to the final
Julian Alvarez bagged Argentina's second from close range in the 57th minute after fatal hesitation from Ryan with the ball at his feet following a backpass.
Bikash Mohapatra salutes Argentine football leagend Diego Maradona, who turns 50 today.
Argentina and Mexico fans lit up the World Cup on Saturday with their vast and vociferous followings creating a thunderous atmosphere in and around Qatar's Lusail Stadium.
"I want to tell everyone that I am fine, that I am not, neither was I, interned," Maradona said in an Instagram post, responding to a media report that he had been taken to hospital.
'It was difficult, but we wanted to show an honest portrayal.' 'I was not trying to tear him apart.'
Argentina's two iconic players may be contrasting characters but they shared many traits
Eight years is a long time in the life of an athlete. But just like Messi, Di Maria has preserved and persisted towards his childhood dream, points out Deepti Patwardhan.
The pair exchange gifts for the cameras when they met in Tunis on Monday with Bennaceur handing the former Argentina skipper a framed photo of himself, Maradona and Shilton, who captained England, before the match at the Azteca Stadium.
Hundreds of thousands of Argentines poured into the sunlit streets of Buenos Aires on Sunday
Argentine great Diego Maradona said England perpetrated a "monumental robbery" in their World Cup victory over Colombia and accused referee Mark Geiger of not being up to such a game.
The former Boca Juniors and Napoli player coached Argentina at the 2010 World Cup, where his team were beaten 4-0 by Germany at the quarter-final stage
In a private chat with friend and author, Victor Hugo Morales, the Argentine football great revealed his nomination for the presidency of the global football body
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona reportedly withdrew a theft complaint against his former girlfriend on Tuesday, after a video surfaced that allegedly showed him hitting her.
He played professional football at 15, lifted the World Cup at 25 and was being called one of the greatest players ever by the time he was 30. And yesterday, Diego Maradona was in hospital fighting for his life.
Diego Maradona, 58, now a technical director at Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa, has five children from other relationships with different women.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
The Argentine then lifted his shirt to reveal a red and black replica kit of his hometown club Newell's Old Boys bearing the number 10 which Maradona wore during his brief spell at the Rosario side in 1993.
Maradona's inheritance process is likely to be a messy affair between his large family, with eight children from six different partners
Argentina dominated the opening stages and earned the penalty when Di Maria was fouled by Ousmane Dembele, with Messi sending France keeper Hugo Lloris the wrong way to move to the top of the goalscoring charts in Qatar.
Manchester United's miserable season continued with a 3-2 home defeat by Galatasaray.
His goal in his team's 2-2 draw with Tunisia came 12 years after his first goal in the World Cup finals against Morocco in 1994.
Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona underwent a gastric bypass in the western Venezuelan city of Maracaibo over the weekend and is recovering well, doctors said on Sunday.
Argentina striker Carlos Tevez has immediately walked into a potential storm after arriving in Brazil.
Saudi Arabia, FIFA's 51st ranked team and who have suffered 5-0 and 8-0 World Cup defeats down the years, roared back to claim an astonishing 2-1 victory that will go down as one of the greatest shocks in any sport ever.
In the third-tier Europa Conference League, English Premier League club Leicester City will face Danish side Randers and Scottish club Celtic will take on Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt in the knockout playoff round.
The 17-year-old midfielder, also called Diego Maradona, is currently at his father's former club Napoli in Italy's Serie B.
The team had arrived in the early hours of Tuesday at Ezeiza airport. Despite it being around 3am local time (0600 GMT), thousands were waiting with banners, flags and flares and howling with joy after Messi and his team mates ended the country's 36-year wait to win the World Cup.
The storyline underpinning the match for most of the world is whether Lionel Messi can get his hands on the trophy in his fifth attempt to finally lift himself up alongside, never above, Diego Maradona in the hearts of his nation.
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