Qatar: Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria scored to give Argentina 2-0 lead over France in the first-half of the final match of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Indian fans
For Indian fans, Argentina and Diego Maradona entered their lives permanently in 1986 when Doordarshan started airing the FIFA World Cup matches from the second round.
Even in those pre-Internet days when social media wasn’t even an idea, Maradona’s skills united the Bengalis, the Malayalis and the Goans, the three football mad people of India.
“Messi belongs to Barcelona as much as to Argentina. But there is a social context associated with the mad Argentina fandom especially in Kolkata and Kochi. Bengalis and Malayalis are lovers of art and in Maradona, they found an artist they had never seen in their lives,” said Dwaipayan Chatterjee, an avid club football fan.
“There is a generation which actually watches football only once in four years but Maradona made them fall in love with Argentina football team and Messi.
With inputs from PTI
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