Not Directly Connected, Roy Hodgson Remains Rich In Memories Of Maradona

Roy Hodgson (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Crystal Palace manager, Roy Hodgson, admits that he still has many memories of the late Diego Maradona, even though in his career in the world of football he has never had direct contact with the Argentine legend.

For Hodgson one of his closest sides to Maradona was when he was still in charge of Malmo FF and the Swedish club played a friendly against Granada, which was played by Maradona's first younger brother, Lalo, on 15 November 1987.

At that time, not only did Maradona come with his youngest brother, Hugo, to watch Lalo perform, but he also joined in grazing, so the trio of Maradona brothers appeared to defend Granada.

"It was the winter international break and we were asked to face Granada, who at that time were still in the second caste of the Spanish League," Hodgson recalled as quoted by Antara from the official Palace website on Friday.

"We don't know what the details are like, but suddenly we got information that Diego Maradona will be taking part in the match."

"His younger brother, Lalo, recently joined Granada, so Diego and Hugo came from Napoli to play. It was the moment I could see Maradona from the closest distance and that's a personal memory of him," he added.

# 86AñosdeGranadinismo | 1987 | Los tres hermanos Maradona visten la camiseta del #GranadaCF en un amistoso contra el Malmöe sueco. pic.twitter.com/jicoD9u75N

- Granada CF ❤️⚪️ (@GranadaCdeF) April 14, 2017

The match ended in a 3-2 win for Granada and Diego also scored one goal from Malmo's free kick.

The match later became famous as El Dia de los Tres Maradonas aka Day Three Maradona which is remembered in the history of Granada.

Outside of these matches, Hodgson more admired Maradona's prowess from afar or from the stories of people who shared their place with the legend.

"When I was with Inter Milan, my goalkeeping coach Luciano Castellini was Napoli goalkeeper in the Maradona era and he always had fantastic stories of Maradona kicks and they were all positive," said Hodgson. Castellini played with Maradona for one season before deciding to retire the following season.

Maradona died aged 60 in Tigre, north of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday, November 25 after suffering a heart attack.