Rising out of the sky of Argentina’s capital city is the newest homage to Diego Maradona.
Make no mistake -- Argentina is putting all its chips in ahead of the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, but the path to glory seems to run through the national legend as demonstrated by a new mural.
The mural, painted by well-known Argentinian street artist Martin Ron, captures the late Maradona’s expression before singing the national anthem at the 1990 World Cup final. Argentina went on to lose 1-0 to Germany and has only returned to the final once since.
This is far from the first mural dedicated to the Argentinian great, but it is distinct in its sheer size. Situated on a 14-story building in Buenos Aires, the mural measures 148 feet high and 131 feet wide, making it the largest Maradona mural in the world, according to Ron.
Many of these other murals often highlight Maradona’s historic performance at the 1986 World Cup, when he scored two goals in the semifinals to lift Argentina over England. The first of those goals is famously known as being the word of the “Hand of God,” while the second was named “Goal of the Century” by FIFA. Argentina went on to beat West Germany 3-2 in the 1986 final for their second and final World Cup victory.
Argentina returned to the final in 2014 and seemed poised to avenge its 1990 loss. However, Germany prevailed 1-0 in stoppage time to win its fourth World Cup and spoil Argentina’s hopes.
Argentina now finds itself at a crossroads with Lionel Messi announcing earlier this month that Qatar would be his last World Cup. In addition to Messi, Argentina has a number of players straddling 30 years old and the pressure’s on to capitalize on this talent.
FIFA currently has Argentina listed as third in the world, behind Brazil and Belgium. Messi and Co. will kick off their World Cup run in two weeks in Group C, where they’ll face No. 13 Mexico, No. 26 Poland and No. 51 Saudi Arabia.
The unveiling of the mural comes around what would have been Maradona’s 62nd birthday. Maradona died almost two years ago and Qatar will mark the first World Cup since his death.
Argentina’s first group stage game is Tuesday, Nov. 22 against Saudi Arabia.
