Diego Maradona, the legendary Argentinian footballer, has died aged 60. The sportsman suffered a heart attack at his home in Buenos Aires just two weeks after having surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain.
Dubbed one of the greatest players of all time, Maradona played for Napoli and Barcelona and was responsible for the infamous “Hand Of God” incident that led to England being kicked out of the World Cup in 1986. His other goal in that match is widely regarded as the greatest ever.
The world is paying tribute to the man, but some of the more colourful episodes in his life are also being recalled – including a particularly outrageous incident in which Liam Gallagherclaimed the sportsman threatened to have him and brother Noel “shot”.
Back in 2017, Liam told Noisey about the time Oasis were performing in Argentina. After the show, the band were relaxing in the bar when a large group of people suddenly appeared.
“We were going ‘Who the f**king hell’s that?’,” recalled Liam. “We found out it was Maradona.
“He’d gone upstairs with a load of f**king madheads and all these women of the night. We were going like, can we go up and meet him? Like that, to the interpreter. And the interpreter said ‘Alright cool, let me go and square it with them’.”
The interpreter came back and told the group that “only the Gallagher brothers” were allowed to join the Maradona party.
Liam went on: “We steamed up there and we got in there and there’s loads of… activity going on. Maradona’s in the middle of the room doing f**king football tricks with a bottle top. He’s sweating his bollocks off.
“His eyes were f**king like that [Liam makes “really big” gesture]. Ours weren’t far off.
“I was going, ‘It’s a bit moody in here, let’s get a quick picture with him and we’ll f**k off.”
Maradona said something to the interpreter, so the Gallagher brothers asked what it was the legend had communicated.
The interpreter apparently said: “He told me to tell you, if yous leave with any of these b*tches, he’ll have you shot.”
So the Gallaghers said: “Right.”
Needless to say, both Gallagher brothers left the building unscathed.