‘Diego Lives On’: Barcelona Welcomes Immersive Maradona Exhibit

BARCELONA – Visitors to Barcelona can now experience the legendary Diego Maradona like never before in an immersive exhibit that brings the football icon to life through a hologram and a meticulously recreated replica of his childhood home. The exhibit offers a unique opportunity to walk in the footsteps of one of football's greatest icons and gain a deeper understanding of his life and legacy.

After runs in Naples and Tel Aviv, the “Diego Vive” (“Diego Lives” in English) exhibition will run for the next two months in the Spanish city where Maradona spent two unhappy, injury-marred, seasons in the early 1980s at FC Barcelona.

Visitors are greeted to the exhibition, spread over 2,000 square metres in central Barcelona, by a hologram of a young Maradona decked out in a Boca Juniors jersey, the club with which he won his only Argentinian league title.

They can also take a penalty kick in the style of the player or have their photo taken recreating his notorious goal during Argentina’s 2-1 win over England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Maradona thumped in the goal with a raised fist, which he latter dubbed as being scored by the “Hand of God”.

“When you are here you feel again that Diego is next to you, and that is the idea, to feel him,” said Avelino Tamargo, one of the creators of this travelling exhibition.

It is backed by relatives of the famed player who died in 2020 aged 60, while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot after decades of battling addictions to drugs and alcohol.

The exhibition also features a selection of photos, an immersive video show that tells his life story and a reconstruction of his childhood home in the Villa Fiorito shanty town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires where he grew up as the fifth of eight children.

“For me Maradona was the hero of my childhood, the hero of my whole generation,” added Tamargo.

A court in Argentina last week authorised the transfer of Maradona’s remains, at his daughter’s request, from a cemetery to a mausoleum to be built for him in central Buenos Aires.

In his homeland he is widely considered the world’s greatest footballer and has gained the iconic status of fellow Argentinians Che Guevara and Eva Peron.

Meanwhile, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said on Oct 8 that he was unsure when his team would be able to travel to Venezuela for their World Cup qualifier as Hurricane Milton approached Florida’s west coast.

The category five storm swept across the Gulf of Mexico bound for Florida, where the reigning world champions have set up camp ahead of the Oct 10 clash in the north-eastern Venezuelan city of Maturin.

“The game is important but the safety issue is even more important,” Scaloni told reporters from Argentina’s training base in Fort Lauderdale. “We are worried and we’re waiting to see if we can in fact travel tomorrow as planned.”

Argentina, who will also meet Bolivia in Buenos Aires on Oct 15, have been hit by injuries to Marcos Acuna and Alejandro Garnacho while goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is suspended.

Scaloni said that captain Lionel Messi is fully fit after missing the team’s September qualifiers against Chile and Colombia because of an ankle injury. AFP, XINHUA