It seems footballing legend, Diego Maradona, has moved swiftly on from the bitter disappointment of Argentina’s early exit from the World Cup, and has instead, decided to focus on his future.
And what’s the best way to get over footballing heartbreak? By getting married, of course!
The 57-year-old Argentinian is now officially off the market, as he presented his girlfriend, Rocio Oliva, with an engagement ring on her 28th birthday, four years after the couple first got together.
Her birthday party was attended by 47 guests, according to The Sun, with the ex-footballer presenting Rocio with a diamond ring and popping the question in front of everyone there.
Naturally, after the birthday girl said yes, the happy couple celebrated with bottles of Dom Perignon. The party also reportedly featured a performance from Argentinian singer, El Polaco.
Rocio told the guests:
I am happy because this is my last birthday as a single woman and I can share it with all of you.
My wishes for today, and forever, are to be happy with Diego, for my mother and grandmother Chiche to live forever, and everyone I love to stay healthy.
Maradona met Oliva in 2012. He divorced his first wife, Claudia Villafane, in 2003 after 17 years together.
Oliva is an ex-professional footballer who played for a number of clubs in Argentina – I wonder if Maradona has ever gone on a rant about her teams the way he did about England during the World Cup?
You see, ol’ Diego went off on an anti-England outburst because of what he saw as a ‘theft’ during their match against Colombia.
He said:
I saw a monumental theft. I apologise to all the Colombian people, but they must know the players are not to blame.
It is the man who decides who the referee is who is to blame. A man like that [Geiger] should not be put in charge of a game of that magnitude.
With all due respect, Pierluigi Collina, as the man who designates the referees, he is very bad. He must apologise to the Colombian people.
Maradona continued:
I told Gianni Infantino, [FIFA president], that if I worked for FIFA, I would change everything. It has to be transparent. That’s why I didn’t go there.
The referee will know a lot about baseball, but he has no idea about football. The Colombian players asked for VAR and he did not give it to them.
Twice the English threw themselves to the ground and he did not admonish them. This was theft.
Thankfully, Maradona later saw the error of his ways, and apologised for the comments on social media, saying ‘I said a couple of things and, I admit, some of them are unacceptable,’ according to the BBC.
Now the World Cup is over, let’s just hope he and his new wife can enjoy a peaceful and happy life together. At least until Qatar in 2022, that is…
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.