In March 1991, after a game Napoli had played against Bari, Diego Maradona failed a drug test. The Italian football authorities banned him for 15 months. He fled to Buenos Aires, where the Argentinian law authorities subjected him to continual harassment and surveillance, including a short spell in jail. Maradona called those 15 months “among the most terrible of my whole life”.
In July 1992, with the ban over, Maradona was determined to “detach [himself] from Napoli”. He joined Sevilla, managed by Carlos Bilardo, who was in charge of Argentina for the 1986 and 1990 World Cups.
