Luciano Moggi and Diego Maradona reunite in Dubai

The duo struck up a close relationship during their time together at Napoli in the late 1980s with Moggi the man responsible for luring Maradona to the San Paolo Stadium from Barcelona in 1984.

They have remained close ever since, partly perhaps for their penchant for both courting controversy. Maradona’s rap sheet is well documented during a hugely colourful career while Moggi has also made more front page headlines than back.

The 74-year-old was recently found guilty of sporting fraud during his time with Juventus in connection with the 2006 Calciopoli scandal, which led to Juve being stripped of two Scudettos and demoted to Serie B.

But Moggi was all smiles in Dubai on Monday as he and Maradona recounted old times, evoking memories of their time together in the south of Italy during Napoli’s halcyon days as Italian football’s preeminent force.

Moggi is not the first famous face to drop in on Maradona with the likes of Arsenal skipper Robin Van Persie, tennis superstar Novak Djokovic, Brazilian football legend Roberto Carlos and sprint king Ben Johnson all making the trip to the Zabeel in recent months.

And, as these pictures show, it’s interesting how the relationship between the pair doesn’t seem to have changed that much in the past 20 years…

(Many thanks to @Mohammed_Kalban for digging out the older picture of the pair from Maradona’s Napoli days.)

 

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