Sunday, Sep 20, 2015

Dubai: Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona paid tribute to Shaikh Rashid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who died of a heart attack aged 34 on Saturday.

The 1986 World Cup winner met Shaikh Rashid while he was the coach of Al Wasl football club for a year in 2011 and Maradona stayed in touch with Shaikh Rashid during his role as ambassador for Dubai Sports Council thereafter.

“I met the late Shaikh Rashid at the Dubai World Cup and we spoke about a range of sporting issues,” Maradona told Al Ittihad newspaper in a statement. “I realised then that he had first class experience and knowledge of sport.

“I found simplicity, humility and great love in the words of the deceased and was taken aback by his admiration of me from a young age. I discovered he was a great lover of my games and realised he could recall details in the matches that I had played with Argentina despite the passing of many years.

“I was asked by the late Shaikh Rashid to play in a friendly match where I presented him with one of my jerseys bearing the No 10, which was one of my most cherished shirts.

“The late Shaikh Rashid also asked me to prepare a training programme and we trained together, and I found he had a great enthusiasm for sport and exercise, I kept in touch with him and asked after him a lot, so when I heard the news of his death I was in great shock.

“He was a great horseman and a first class athlete who impressed me a great deal and I wished to work with him, especially as I have an inclination for riding horses,” added Maradona, who represented Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli and the Argentinian national team in a career spanning over two decades from 1976 to 1997.

By Ashley Hammond Staff Reporter

Gulf News 2015. All rights reserved.