The Albanian special confession that met Maradona: He did strange deeds, broke everything...

A fan who grew up watching Maradon from TV doing magic with the ball in the field, naturally dreamed of pursuing the legend minimally at a “live” game from the stadium, much less meeting him to take a picture or receive an autograph.

Very fortunately, it could be called Albanian, who has lived for more than two decades in Greece, Drini Chaushi, who is not an unknown name for sports opinion. He's a football manager, but he's known a lot about his obsession with the team's fan collection.

Drini has been a lunatic since Maradona since 1980, but above all, he has had the chance to meet him and talk closely to the football legend. A very beautiful story that 47-year-old tells about “Panorama Sport”.

Drini, when did you first follow Maradona and how did you become his mad fan?

Like any child who pursues football, he has an idol. To me, he was Diego Armando Maradona. It was 1980, when I attended a friendly match between Argentina and Brazil. That's where I fell in love with Maradona's game. At that match he won Argentina with his goal. I was only seven years old and I became crazy about Diego.

I had worshipped him in everything he did, but in the years of Communism we were living in Albania, I never imagined that the day would come when I would meet Diego. It was a dream that came to be thought of even more when borders opened and I then migrated to Greece. Since then I have dreamed that this would come true. Everyone in Tirana in the '80s-90s knew me well and how crazy I was about Maradona.

What did your friends say?

It's weird because everyone in those years called me: Diego Cheushi, not Drini Chaushi. As a result of my madness about Maradon, now that he lost his life, you may not be trusted, but at my address, hundreds of comforting messages have come from friends and friends over the years knowing that I have been idolizing him. I played soccer myself and in those years tried to imitate Maradona in everything. In school banks everything I wrote was also about him, the formation of Argentina and Naples.

You said you dreamt of seeing Diego one day...

Yeah, that was my dream. When I lived in Albania, I thought of it as an impossible thing, but fate made me realize this dream.

What was your first contact?

My first close contact with Maradona was in 2005.

How did it happen?

In November 2005, he came to Greece. He was invited by the Olympian Club and the sports firm, “Puma”. He came into a very overweight, psychological state. It reacted so strange. So, the big Diego was unpredictable even when you had one meter nearby...

Why, what did he do?

He did strange deeds, couldn't stand people. As it was, it was in life, unpredictable. In the two days he stayed at the Hotel “Grand Bretanja” in Athens, he destroyed the entire suite. He broke all that was in the room because he didn't agree with the sponsor on the figure he had to get after coming to Greece.

All this frustration was understood as soon as he left the hotel, where thousands of fans awaited him. It was a tremendous rage from Diego, for he refused to accept anyone coming near. But I found a way to stand out with something I thought he would calm down when he saw me.