Kellu tlettax-il sena meta ltaqa’ mal-idolu tiegħu u l-eroj tal-Arġentina, Diego Armando Maradona.
Dan huwa Pablo Doffo, li fl-elf disgħa mija sebgħa u disgħin, ingħaqad mal-akkademja tat-tim Arġentin ta’ Boca Juniors.
Dak iż-żmien, Maradona kien qed jilgħab mat-tim ta’ Boca Juniors u l-kowċ ta’ Doffo kien avżahom li fi tmien il-ġimgħa kienu se jkunu ball-boys, fil-logħba bejn Boca Juniors u Racing Club.
Huwa qalilna: “I was 13, I was almost 14 that year, and I remember that our coach came to our room and he told us that on Sunday, we were going to be the ball-boys of the games of Boca Juniors vs Racing Club. We didn’t sleep for two days, you know, we were thinking that the moment we were going to meet our idol, our legend.”
Magħna, Pablo Doffo ddeskriva l-mument li ltaqa’ mal-idolu tiegħu.
Huwa rrakkonta magħna: “Then when he appeared in the ground, there were like 60,000 people, just shouting his name, you know. I remember like till today, that when he came close to us, because we took a picture together. There was an agreement, because if not there were 100 people that wanted to a photo with him. When I have him close to myself, I couldn’t believe it.”
Il-poplu Arġentin qed jibki t-telfa tal-eroj tagħhom. L-awtoritajiet Arġentini ħabbru tlett ijiem ta’ luttu nazzjonali b’rispett għal dan il-ġgant fid-dinja tal-futbol.
Il-ġisem ta’ Maradona se jkun qed jitpoġġa f’Casa Rosada, li huwa l-palazz tal-President Arġentin, sabiex il-poplu jkun jista’ jagħti l-aħħar tislima lil dan l-istilla fil-futbol.
Pablo Doffo, li f’Malta lagħab ma’ bosta klabbs Maltin fosthom Hibernians u Floriana, qal magħna kif meta kien għadu żgħir, anke qabel l-esperjenza tiegħu ma’ Boca Juniors, Maradona kien fuq fomm kulħadd.
Maradona kien ispirazzjoni għal diversi tfal, hekk kif minkejja li kien ġej minn familja fqira, xorta rnexxielu jikseb dan is-suċċess. Huwa qal kif l-aħbar ta’ mewtu niktet lill-Arġentini u lid-dinja tal-futbol.
Doffo stqarr: “Well for us, is a very very sad day because Diego, how we call him, you know, he was an inspiration for all the Argentinian people. In fact, I spoke to my friends and my family, yesterday, no one sleeped and they are waiting to say the last goodbye to him.”
Il-plejer Arġentin qal magħna kif minkejja li Maradona żbalja diversi drabi f’ħajtu, huwa xorta se jibqa’ magħruf għaliex mat-tim nazzjonali Arġentin kien jagħti kollox u bis-saħħa t’hekk għaqqad pajjiż.
Doffo sostna: “For us, he was an inspiration in all sense. We never judged him as a person because everyone can do mistakes and all the mistakes that he did it was to himself, you know. But when he get the time to represent his country, he always give his 100% and we will remember him for that, forever.”
