When Diego Maradona met Queen and had the chance to introduce them on stage

Diego Armando Maradona, one of the greatest players in the history of soccer, died on Wednesday (25), at the age of 60. The athlete, a great sport idol in Argentina, suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest while recovering from brain surgery.

Music fans, especially rock fans, remember Maradona for some curious situations involving him in the past. One of the most notable was the meeting between the athlete and Queen's musicians , when the band toured Argentina and Brazil in 1981.

Queen's tour in Argentina had the following locations and dates:

- 02.28.1981: Estadio Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires;

- 03.01.1981: Estadio Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires;

- 03.04.1981: Estadio José Maria Minella, Mar del Plata;

- 03.06.1981: Estadio Gigante de Arroyito, Rosario;

- 03.08.1981: Estadio Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires.

The tour began on February 28, with two consecutive nights at Estadio Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires, where the band drew a crowd of 300,000 people –the largest single concert crowd in Argentine history at the time.

Legendary photos from the meeting of Maradona and Queen were taken at the last show on March 8 in Buenos Aires. At the time, the 20-year-old played in Argentina for Boca Juniors and was already admired by his spectacular and unusual skills on the pitch.

It has been documented that lead singer Freddie Mercury wore a shirt from the Argentine national team precisely to honor Maradona in his meeting with the athlete. In turn, the player came up with an outfit with a print from the UK, Queen's birthplace.

A year before facing each other in the Falkland War, Argentina and the United Kingdom had an episode of approximation that became famous thanks to football and music. The mutual admiration between Diego Maradona and the band Queen made it unthinkable happen: Maradona wearing a shirt in British colors and Freddie Mercury, leader of Queen, wearing one from Argentina. Maradona wore guitarist Brian May's T-shirt in British colors, tied a red Mercury scarf around his neck, and took drummer Roger Taylor's drumsticks.

When these photos came to the public eye, Diego Maradona was heavily criticized by the Argentine people for wearing The British Union Jack considering The Falklands War “La Guerra de las Malvinas” between The United Kingdom and Argentina. Maradona defended himself by saying that the photos were taken one full month before the conflict began and one full year before the war had even started.

When Queen took Maradona to the stage, Freddie Mercury said: “I would like to introduce a friend of yours and ours as well tonight. I'm sure you already know him: Maradona ” in front of the crowd that filled the José Amalfitani stadium. "I want to thank Freddie and Queen for making me so happy," replied Maradona. In addition to thanking Queen for the invitation to the show, the player announced the next song in Queen’s set, the classic hit "Another One Bites the Dust", which he cited as "Otro Muerde el Polvo".

It is worth mentioning that Diego Maradona was still on the rise in football at the time. Maradona had arrived at Boca Juniors a month earlier but was already an idol for many Argentines. His fame had also crossed the ocean. A friendly match in 1980 between Argentina and England, at Wembley Stadium, served as a business card for the 19-year-old hairy boy who showed above average skill with his left leg. Very young, the athlete emerged for Argentinos Juniors between 1976 and 1981, playing for Boca Juniors until 1982, when he was transferred to Barcelona - where he shined , but did not offer everything he could.

Maradona ended up leaving the Catalan team in 1984 and went to Napoli, in Italy, where he made history: he scored 199 games in 259 matches and won numerous titles. In the midst of all this, he also shined at World Cups, for Argentina: he won the world trophy in 1986, being the best athlete of that edition of the tournament.