“We had a party with the best girls I’ve ever seen in my life” - When Diego Maradona shared unbelievable prison experience with Pablo Escobar 

Argentine legend Diego Maradona once recalled partying all night with well-known Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar inside his special prison, La Catedral, in 1991. Escobar was reportedly fond of football and had a ground made for the sport inside La Catedral.

The druglord was fond of hosting exhibition matches in his prison, with Colombian players frequently playing with him. Escobar was especially fond of Diego Maradona, and once invited him to play football with him in La Catedral in exchange for a huge amount. The Argentine accepted the offer without knowing who Pablo Escobar was, recalling in a November 2020 interview:

“I was taken to a prison surrounded by thousands of guards. I said: ‘What the f**k is going on? Am I being arrested?!’

"The place was like a luxury hotel. They said: ‘Diego, this is El Patron’. I didn’t read the newspaper or watch television, so I had no idea who he was." Maradona described. (via Daily Star)

Maradona fondly recalled the night when he played football alongside the Colombian drug lord and other Nacional players.

He later partied with Escobar throughout the night with the "best girls" he had seen in his life inside Escobar's luxury prison furnished with a bar, jacuzzi among other amenities.

"We met in an office, and he said he loved my game and that he identified with me because, like him, I'd triumphed through poverty. We played the game and everyone enjoyed themselves.

"Later that evening, we had a party with the best girls I've ever seen in my life. And it was in a prison! I couldn't believe it. The next morning, he paid me and said goodbye." Diego said.

Pablo Escobar was assassinated by the Colombian police in his hometown in 1993 after he had escaped from prison. Diego Maradona, meanwhile, breathed his last after a cardiac arrest at the age of 60 on November 25, 2020.

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Diego Maradona's 1986 World Cup Golden Ball trophy goes for auction

Diego Maradona mural (Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Getty Images)

Diego Maradona's 1986 Adidas Golden Ball trophy awarded for his performance in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico was put for auction at the Aguette House in Paris on June 6, 2024.

The trophy, reportedly missing for decades, reappeared in 2016 among other private belongings. Diego's heirs have claimed that the trophy was stolen and the owner didn't have the right to put it up for sale, per The Hindu.

Maradona was the captain of the Argentina side who won their second World Cup title at the 1986 World Cup, which is also remembered for Diego Maradona's controversial Hand of God goal against England in the quarter-final.

His second goal scored against the same side is widely considered the most beautiful goal in the history of football, dubbed as the "Goal of the Century."

Maradona received his Adidas Golden Ball at Lido, Paris, in November 1986. No Golden Ball trophy was put up for auction until 2024 and the trophies awarded after 1990 are preserved in the FIFA Museum in Zurich, Switzerland.