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What's the story?
Diego Maradona was reportedly involved in a bust-up with secretary Sergio Batista, which led to the former slapping the other in front of the onlookers who gathered to see the legend during his recent visit of Kolkata.
Maradona visited the Chetla Agrani club late in the afternoon today and lost his cool in an unfortunate incident that took place right before a number of fans.
In case you didn't know...
Maradona had earlier refused to take part in a charity game that was scheduled to take place between the Maradona XI and Sourav Ganguly's Dada XI at the Aditya Birla Sports Complex earlier today.
The former World Cup winner attended a workshop and went straight to the stands after that and took no part in the game whatsoever.
Heart of the matter
The incident sparked into life when Maradona's car was surrounded by a huge crowd that gathered outside the Chetla Agrani club in Kolkata to witness the footballing great. As a result, Maradona refused to step out of the car and soon the organizers started discussions with Sergio to try and lure him outside.
According to onlookers, there was a heated exchange between Sergio and Maradona for about 45 minutes and at one particular moment, rage caught up to the Argentine legend and he is said to have slapped his employee in front of everyone.
Parity was soon restored when the organisers provided Maradona with a token of gratitude and he returned the favour by signing a football for them. However, the Argentine did not step out of his car and left for his hotel right after that.
What next?
Maradona did not enjoy the best of times on his trip to India this time around and will be leaving to Dubai on a private flight tomorrow.
Author's take
Despite being one of the world's greatest ever players, Maradona was never shy of controversy and this reaction, probably due to a bitter mood swing after seeing the crowd blocking his way, just adds to the long list.
