These backstage photos of Queen with soccer legend Diego Maradona in Argentina were taken during a South America tour stop for “The Game Tour” are awesome.
The photos were taken on March 8, 1981 backstage at the Buenos Aires stadium Estadio José Amalfitani.
Maradona is wearing the British Union Jack shirt of Brian May and Freddie Mercury is wearing a Diego Maradona #10 jersey from the Argentina national team. This by far has to be the best photo of the bunch, Mercury being “cheeky” and bending over while leaning on Maradona…
When these photos surfaced, Maradona was heavily criticized by the Argentine people for wearing The British Union Jack considering The Falklands War “La Guerra de las Malvinas” between The United Kingdom and Argentina. He defended himself by saying that the photos were taken one full month before the conflict began and one full year before the war had even started.
Here is a photo of Maradona on stage introducing Queen after their encore and before the song “Another One Bites The Dust“…
(Notice Brian May in the background wearing the controversial shirt)
Here’s the audio of Maradona’s introduction…
Whatever the controversy, Maradona, The UK and Argentina were once again tangled in a controversial mess on June 22, 1986 when Maradona scored two goals, one of them the famous “Hand of God” goal to beat England 2-1.
It’s crazy how things work out…