Maradona Mania Begins

Maradona Mania Begins

Eva Fernandes isn’t too chuffed about the Maradona-over dose soon to plague the local press.

September 20, 2011 3:02 by Eva Fernandes

“Maradona picks up licence.”

This, dear readers, is a headline from today’s issue of Gulf News. And though it may be a rather literal headline, it is also an extremely descriptive one- for the body of text that follows adds little value or knowledge to the reader. For, indeed, it is a story of how Al Wasl’s new fancy-schmancy coach went to Belhasa Driving School to pick up his driver’s licence.

“And then…?” We hear you ask. Well, and then, nothing. He picked up his licence and then went back to his residence (which is on the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray on the Palm, in case you didn’t know already this article has you covered). Oh wait, sorry maybe we were being simplistic to brush aside the twist in the story:

“Staff at Al Wasl have questioned Al Diego’s knowledge of the local roads and his ability to adapt to the unique style of driving here.”

Cue dramatic: Dun Dun Dun…

Will Al Diego make it through rush hour on Shaikey Z? Does Al Diego possess the power of predicting those notorious lane-changers that prefer not to use their indicators? (Oh yeah, did you spot the Al Diego typo too? I love it!).

But, you get what I mean; Al Diego picking up his license to drive in Dubai isn’t quite breaking news…nor is the fact that Al Diego will be: “driving a black Audi A8 and a dark brown Audi Q7 courtesy of Audi, the official car supplier to Al Wasl Club. A spokesman from Al Wasl explained the Q7 had more trunk space for his training gear or his partner Veronica Ojeda’s shopping.” Phew, that is a relief! I must admit the thought of poor Veronica (by partner, I assume they mean roommate of course because live-in couples are of course ‘frowned up’ here) not having enough space to place her bags of shopping has plagued too many a nightmare of mine.

The fact that Al Diego has just arrived in the UAE probably means the local press has a real treat of hard-hitting stories in the pipeline. And just to curb your enthusiasm here are a few predictions of what is ahead of us:

“I am not above the law”-Al Diego stops at Dubai “red light.”

“Al Diego clips toenails by Zabeel Saray poolside.”

“Al Diego puts one foot in front of the other…”