(Barcelona) Argentine football legend Diego Maradona comes to life in an immersive exhibition in Barcelona, which offers to relive the “Goal of the Century” in virtual reality, a reconstruction of his childhood home at Villa Fiorito or even a hologram of Maradona himself.
After passing through Naples and Tel Aviv, the exhibition will settle down for the next two months in the Spanish city where Maradona spent two unhappy seasons, marked by injuries in the early 1980s at FC Barcelona.
Visitors are welcomed into the exhibition, spread over 2,000 square meters, by a hologram of a young Maradona wearing the jersey of Boca Juniors, the club with which he won his only Argentine championship title.
Fans can then take a penalty in the player’s style or have their photo taken recreating his infamous goal, dubbed “Hand of God”, in Argentina’s 2-1 quarter-final victory over England of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
“When you’re here, you feel again that Diego is next to you, and that’s the idea, to feel him,” said Avelino Tamargo, one of the creators of this traveling exhibition. He is supported by the relatives of the player who died on November 25, 2020 at the age of 60 while recovering from brain surgery for a blood clot.
Seven health professionals are due to appear in March 2025 in a trial to establish the causes of his death and potential negligence.
The Argentine courts last week authorized the transfer of Maradona’s remains, at the request of his daughter, from a cemetery to a mausoleum which will be built for him in the center of Buenos Aires.
“For me, Maradona was the hero of my childhood, the hero of my whole generation,” Tamargo said.
In his native country, Maradona is widely regarded as the greatest footballer in history and has achieved iconic status.