Diego Maradona , the name that is not unknown to football crazy fans around the World did something on this day 35 years ago that has very little to do with the enormous football skills he had.
Playing Copa Del Rey final against Bilao, Maradona went crazy as he turned into Karate kid, kicking out all the Bilboa players, sparking out the Bilbao keeper, and causing a riot. It turned out as Maradona’s last match for Barca and typically it wasn’t a quiet goodbye.
It was in 1984 Copa del Rey final, in which Barca and Bilbao would face each other in a fraught and feverish game. The match itself was a Bilbao masterclass, with a goal after 14 minutes from Endika Guarrotxena allowing the Basque side to close ranks, marshalled by the looming form of Goiko at centre-back. The score remained unchanged at the final whistle, before the season finale descended into mayhem.
Having received a nasty gash on his leg after another robust tackle from Goiko as well as deafening taunts from the crowd, Maradona showed that he too had a violent side when Miguel Sola attempted to goad him at the end of the match. Initiating what is possibly still the most extreme fight in a major domestic tournament, Maradona kneed Sola in the head – knocking him out cold – before launching himself with a flurry of kicks into a group of Bilbao players. In the whirlwind of kung-fu moves and punches which followed Goiko managed one last swipe at Maradona, connecting with a flying kick of his own as his nemesis found himself at the centre of the maelstrom.
Maradona wouldn’t stick around for Barcelona’s title win the following season, with the bust-up against Bilbao the main factor in his move to Naples.
Excerpts from Vice.Com added for broader details of the incident.
