Diego Maradona's death: Confused fans end up paying tribute to pop star Madonna instead

The heartbreaking news of Diego Maradona’s death arrived on Wednesday, November 25. The 60-year-old Maradona was not only a legendary football player but also the national hero of Argentina. During his long and gleaming career, Maradona had played for outstanding clubs including Barcelona and Napoli. He was captain when Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, scoring the famous "Hand of God" goal against England in the quarter-finals. However, only a short while after the news of Maradona's death broke, tweets about American pop singer Madonna's death also began surfacing on Twitter.

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Did Madonna die?

Few netizens confused Maradona with Madonna

As millions of fans took to Twitter to mourn the loss of the legendary football star, some of them confused him with pop star Madonna. It is understandable that many netizens got confused between Maradona and Madonna, the confusion was created because both their names are distinguished by just one alphabet ‘r’.

Hence, several fans mistook Maradona's name as Madonna's and went ahead to pay rich tributes to the singer. As twitter began teeming with tribute messages for both the legends, the rumour around Madonna's death spread far and wide on Twitter. Amidst the confusion, some Twitteratis began explaining that it wasn’t Madonna who had passed away. 

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What caused Diego Maradona’s death?

A BBC report reveals that former Argentina attacking midfielder and manager passed away at his home in Tigre, near Buenos Aires. Maradona died in Buenos Aires after suffering a heart attack. Only a few days ago, he had undergone successful surgery on a brain blood clot. In addition to this, he was also being treated for alcohol dependency.

At 22:00 on Wednesday (01:00 GMT), was chosen as the hour when stadiums across Argentina switched on their floodlights to honour his memory. The time was chosen to match the number on his shirt. A minute's silence took place before Wednesday's Champions League matches and it will also be observed before all other European fixtures this week.

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Lionel Messi pays tribute to Diego Maradona

Argentina and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi took to his social media to pay tributes to Maradona, writing on social media: "He has left us but he will never leave us because Diego is eternal”. Former Tottenham midfielder Ossie Ardiles, who played alongside Maradona at the 1982 World Cup, also paid tribute to Maradona in a BBC interview. Ardiles called him, “a god" in Argentina, in Naples and all around the world.

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Image Source: Madonna (Official Instagram) & @YourKoel (Twitter)