Maradona on Messi: I knew it would not end well with Barcelona

Diego Maradonaturned 60 on Friday, October 30, and on his birthday he discussed how Lionel Messi tried to leave Barcelona in the summer transfer window. The World Cup winner left Barcelona himself after two seasons at the Camp Nou and then went to new heights at Napoli, but he recalls how it was made difficult for him to depart too.

"I knew it was going to end badly and I thought Leo was going to leave," Maradona told the Argentinian newspaper Clarin. "It happened to me too. Barcelona is not an easy club and he has been there for many years and was not treated as he deserves. "He gave them everything, he took them to the top and one day he wanted to leave to get a change of scenery and they said no. "What happens is that slamming the door is not easy; there is a contract, a very big club, people who love you. I didn't do it at Napoli."

Maradona has thanked football for everything that it has given him, but there is one thing that he wishes he still had. "Football gave me everything I have, more than I could have imagined," he stated. "And if I hadn't had that [drug] addiction, I would have been able to play much more. "But now that is in the past, I am well and what I regret most is not having my parents."

In terms of a birthday wish, the legendary No.10 made clear that he wants Argentina to come out the other side with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. "May this pandemic pass as soon as possible and may my Argentina come out of it," Maradona said. "I want all Argentinians to be well; we have a beautiful country and I am confident that our president will be able to get us out of this moment."

Maradona has pointed to the way in which COVID-19 has affected those who are the most worst off in society. "This is the worst thing that could happen to us, I have never seen anything like it," he noted. "And it has hit Latin America much harder. Hopefully it will end soon; there are people who are not having a good time, many people who have lost their jobs, who find it difficult to have enough to eat."