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Maradona 'kicked photographer in groin'

ESPN staff
July 30, 2013
Diego Maradona has had a long-running feud with the press © Getty Images
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A photographer has filed a police complaint accusing Argentina legend Diego Maradona of kicking him in the groin.

Enrique Medina, a paparazzo for celebrity magazine Gente, claims the attack happened outside Maradona's father's home as he waited to take a picture of the former midfielder on Sunday night.

Medina clams the 52-year-old came out of the house, charged towards him "like he was taking a free-kick" and kicked him so hard that he "doubled over in pain".

"This wasn't the kick of an ordinary person," Medina told the Associated Press. "This is from someone used to kicking…He seemed very angry, out of his mind. Like something had happened in his father's house."

Former Barcelona, Napoli and Boca Juniors star Maradona, who lifted the World Cup as his country's captain in 1986, has had a long-running feud with the press.

In 1994, he was given a two-year suspended sentence after firing an air gun in the direction of reporters gathered outside his house.

And while manager of the Argentina national team, he responded to his critics after his side sealed their place at the 2010 World Cup by telling a press conference to "suck it".

The controversial figure's last job in football was as head coach for Al Wasl in Dubai, and he now works as a sporting ambassador for the Gulf city.

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