Diego Maradona finally entered into Italian soil after a gap of eight years and welcomed whole heartedly by the fans there. He has been serving an exile from Italy after his name was linked up with mafia and also alleged for taking drugs. Later, he was also charged in a tax evasion case where he was required to pay more than thirty million euros to Italian state. The former Napoli player landed here 1 PM local time and immediately drove away to Napoli. He does not have a long schedule in Italy; he will attend his former club’s match today and then he has to address a news conference which is going to be interesting as he is expected to answer lots of media questions about his tax evasion case. The Argentinian star was wearing black goggles along with a black jacket and black suite; his fans were waiting on the airport since hours after his arrival news flashed on various news channels. He did not answer any question on the airport but fans were madly shouting on him saying ‘Welcome Back.’
Maradona was convicted in 2005 of evading around 12 million euros and asked to pay around 37 million euro including an interest for late payment. He since ignoring this part of the world citing his legal issues, but now, his representatives claim State have cleared all his dues hence he is back in the country. On the other side, concerned authorities have refused to accept that they have forgone their tax dues. Actually, Maradona has said on several occasions that he is a law abiding citizen not a tax fraudster. Last year he issued a similar statement where he said, “I am not a tax fraudster. I played football and other people signed for me. I am not afraid of returning to Italy. I never signed anything. The people who are really responsible are free and can walk around calmly in Naples and I can’t. That’s not fair. I want to return to Italy as a gentleman because I never stole anything from anyone.”
Maradona won two Serie A titles for his former club Napoli back in 1987 and 1990, and on his arrival, he is keen to watch his club’s match tomorrow. When he reached in Naples’ hotel Royal; he came into the balcony where hundreds of fans were chanting and singing “Who doesn’t jump is a Juventus fan,” Maradona started jumping immediately showing he still supports his former club.