The statue, which represents the player in the Neapolitan shirt in life size, in which he played from 1984 to 1991, respects his physique and expressions.
The Italian city of Naples will remember Diego Maradona with a statue that will be installed this Thursday, one year after his death, in front of the stadium of the Neapolitan club of which he became a symbol and which now bears his name.
The sculpture, designed by the artist Domenico Sepe and commissioned by the municipal government, will be inaugurated in a ceremony attended by city authorities, former colleagues from Napoli and his son Diego Armando Maradona Junior.
The statue, which represents in real size the player with the Neapolitan team shirt, in which he played from 1984 to 1991, respects his physique and his expressions, and seeks to represent “a living champion”, in the artist’s words, according to local media .
The work, for now, can only be seen this Thursday, as it will then be withdrawn before being officially placed in the coming weeks.
Likewise, a second bronze sculpture of the footballer will be installed inside the stadium’s changing rooms, in the space in front of the rooms for the referees, which will be inaugurated next Saturday the 27th when the stadium comes to life with the match between Napoli and Lazio .
That night, several replicas of the statue will also be placed in different areas of the stadium and the perimeter of the venue will be filled with images of Maradona.
Maradona’s friend and former manager Stefano Ceci commissioned this work and had the phrase “I am also a Neapolitan” recorded to fulfill the promise he made to the player: to raise a statue that would portray him and bear the words that he himself dictated.
Finally, a third sculpture made by Christian Leporino and entitled “The hero’s dream” will be exhibited in the Garden of the Camellias of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.
This piece, three meters high and molded in clay, plaster and wax, and cast in bronze, represents a winged victory that symbolizes a young Maradona’s dream of becoming a champion when he played in the dusty streets of the Villa Fiorito neighborhood in Buenos Aires. (D)
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