Lionel Messi leading Argentina to glory would be a moment of sporting beauty but still a sportswashing win for Qatar
Buenos Aires has a new Diego Maradona mural for the World Cup. It looks great, although the vast, Stalinist-scale Diego head selected by the artist is not the obvious version from 1986, when the quality of the light, the white noise in the stadiums and the way Maradona moved were basically all one perfect golden sun-drenched substance.
Instead Buenos Aires has gone for the Italia 90 version, with the insolent stare and the deep blue kit, hair trimmed into an idealised barbershop photo-style low bouffant. Maradona still managed to lead Argentina to the final in Italy and to produce that otherworldly artist-as-pickpocket pass to Claudio Caniggia against Brazil.
Written by Barney Ronay
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2022/nov/11/lionel-messi-argentina-world-cup-qatar under the title “World Cup hero? Even triumph for Messi will not save this compromised spectacle | Barney Ronay”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
