Cabrini sparks Maradona controversy

Former Juventus player Antonio Cabrini said Diego Maradona ‘would still be alive if he had played for the Bianconeri and not Napoli’, but then apologised.

Cabrini sparked controversy with his comment on the death of Diego Armando Maradona, when he claimed the Argentine legend would have still lived if he had moved to the Bianconeri.

“He would still be alive if he had played for Juve and not Napoli,” he told Ispina TV, according to La Repubblica.

The former defender spent 13 seasons with the Turin giants and won the World Cup with Italy in 1982. He praised Maradona as a 'legend and gentleman'.

“A living legend and a gentleman opponent,” Cabrini told Irpina TV. “Who, like many other champions, was able to give the best and the worst at the same time.

“He would still be here with us if he came to Juve because the environment would have saved him, not the club but the environment itself.

“The love of Naples was as strong and authentic as it was ill.”

But he later said that his words were ‘misinterpreted’ and immediately apologised as the reports emerged in Italian media.

“You misinterpreted my words, it was not a moral judgment but a comment on the energy of a city that couldn’t contain this passion,” he said.

“I thought that the muffled environment in which I lived at Juve would perhaps have protected him. I apologise to anyone who felt offended.”