WORLD / AMERICAS
Chinese football fans mourn Argentine football legend Diego Maradona online
Published: Nov 26, 2020 12:39 AM Updated: Nov 26, 2020 02:04 AM

Photo: VCG


The sad news about Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona ,who passed way at the age of 60 due to a heart attack has shocked numerous Chinese football fans who received the news by midnight. They poured to web to mourn the World Cup winner who was a significant symbol of football. 

Many Chinese fans were encouraged by this glory of football when they started to watch international games after the economic reforms and opening-up of the country in the 1980s.

Hashtags like #Maradona and #MaradonaPassedAway have got more than 100 million views on the Chinese twitter-like social media Sina Weibo just one hour after the death of the Argentinian star was announced by the media. Tens of thousands of comments were posted online to mourn the FIFA World Cup winner, former player and coach of the Argentina national football team.

"I wish this is a fake news," read a comment on Sina Weibo. "The hand of God has returned to the God," said another one. "The hand of God" was a phrase used by Argentine footballer Diego Maradona to describe a goal that he scored in the game Argentina vs England during the 1986 World Cup.

A web user quoted a famous song said in English "Don't cry for me Argentina." Although the song was composed in 1976 to commemorate the former first lady of Argentina Eva Peron, the song was also remembered by Chinese football fans as the sport channels always play it when reporting the defeat of the Argentina national football team in the world cup.