Hugo Maradona, brother of the great Diego!
Hugo Hernan Maradona (1969-2021)
Easter Monday 1991 marked the end of Diego’s Italian adventure (he “escaped” at night from Fiumicino from a doping conviction that day).
Another Easter Monday, that of 1985, marked the start of the career of Hugo Hernan Maradona, the younger of Diego’s two brothers (the other, Raul, known as Lalo, was decidedly unsuited to top-level football).
That day at the Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina U16 faced Colombia. The attraction for the Blanqui celeste was him, Hugo Hernan (born in Lanus on 9-5-1969, so almost nine years younger than his famous brother). He opened the scoring with a formidable free kick (a family vice) from twenty meters. And then he made his right foot sing (his magic foot, MICROM while Diego solfège football with his left) putting on a show, until the final 4-0.
Those present applaud: a star is born. His brother, Diego, assures that Hugo is destined to become even better than him. Instead, it will be a simple illusion. An Argentine journalist will summarize admirably:
“The difference between Diego and Hugo? One kicks with his left foot and the other with his right foot, one went to training with broken shoes at sixteen, the other goes driving a Mercedes”.
Huguito’s fairy tale inevitably passes through Italy. He lands in his brother’s small court in Naples, where he leads a life that is not in line with the duties of an aspiring professional.
From Argentinos Juniors Diego has him diverted to Ascoli in 1987, where the baby settles in an apartment with a Neapolitan friend. He is eighteen years old, with a baby face, exquisite technique that he displays on his debut, and no desire to suffer. He plays about fifteen games, of which only three from the start, wearing the magical number 10 shirt.
Coach Castagner can’t get much out of it, the kid will move to Spain, to Rayo Vallecano, in Serie B, at the end of the season, and then vegetate in second-tier football for a few more years. A great missed opportunity.
He died from a heart attack at his home in Monte di Procida, near Naples, on 28 December 2021, at the age of 52, a year after his brother Diego
Translated to English from Italian by Pjerin Bj.
New York: July 3, 2025
(Calcio 2000 N. 35 / October 2000 | Pag. 23).
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