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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Sam Meade

Napoli pay tribute to favourite son Diego Maradona ahead of the Europa League tie

Napoli paid their own tribute to club legend Diego Maradona as each of their players donned a No 10 shirt with his name on the back.

The Argentine died on Wednesday at the age of 60 after a glittering career.

Maradona will best be remembered for leading his country to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

But his greatest exploits at club level came at the Italian club where he remains a hero.

Maradona helped Napoli win two Serie A titles - to date their only league successes - as well as the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup in 1989.

Napoli players all wore shirts bearing Maradona's name (SSC NAPOLI via Getty Images)

The Italian club played on Thursday night in the Europa League against Rijeka.

Fans gathered outside the Stadio San Paolo where they paid their respects before the players did likewise.

A minutes silence was held before the contest as the home side stood arm in arm with Maradona printed on all their shirts, including goalkeeper Alex Meret.

Napoli won 2-0 and club president Aurelio De Laurentiis has declared that they are considering renaming their stadium in tribute to Argentine.

Manager Gennaro Gattuso also wore a shirt on the touchline (SSC NAPOLI via Getty Images)

"I've been in talks with local authorities for the past 17 years, I have always asked to buy the stadium and rename it 'Diego Armando Maradona'," he told Sky in Italy.

"If then, for tradition, we will need to call it both 'San Paolo' and 'Maradona' so be it.

"It won't change much, but it's only right that Maradona has this recognition. Even if we were to build a whole new stadium, I would name it like that."

Argentina today continued to grieve the death of the footballing great.

More than one million mourners are expected at the Casa Rosada palace in Buenos Aires to view the star’s casket.

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