"I don't want anything, it's over": Witness revealed Maradona's last words

The trial regarding the death of Diego Maradona has reached its 32nd session. Today (Thursday), the prosecution summoned the last witness to speak about the days the legendary former footballer spent in home care, before the start of expert testimonies from the medical commission. This is Nicolas Taffarel, Diego's masseur, who assisted him with physical rehabilitation at his home in Tigre. His testimony was particularly significant because he was one of the people who saw Maradona swollen long before his death.

"I met Diego in 2017, during an internship at the Deportivo Riestra club, where he came to participate in training with the team," Taffarel began his testimony. "He asked me to treat him, and from that moment a bond began to form between us."

Taffarel said that after the first meeting, Maradona left for work matters, and he only saw him again a year later, in 2018, when he began to provide him with treatments more frequently. "I did exercises with him for the lower limbs, walking, lymphatic massages, and accompaniment," he described his work. "For me, Diego was an idol, and eventually, a friendship also formed between us. During the COVID period, I was already working with him, and I would come to visit him from time to time with permission. They introduced Leopoldo Luque to me as Diego's doctor. Maxi Pomargo introduced us. Later, I also met Agustina Cosachov and Diaz."

Regarding the last two weeks, he said: "At the beginning of the home care, it was as if he had been rebooted mentally. Compared to the state he was in before, when he had difficulty holding conversations or suffered from memory gaps, suddenly his sharpness returned. Physically, as far as movement was concerned, he was as always. It was difficult for him to walk and move around. He started to suffer from edema in his lower limbs when he left the Olivos clinic. We always talked about the fact that the left leg was fine, while the right leg was swollen."

Prosecutor Patricio Ferrari presented many messages and voice recordings that Taffarel sent to Leopoldo Luque between November 15 and 21, 2020. In the messages, he warned him that Maradona's condition was bad. "As we got closer to the date of Diego's death, I would say that in the last days he started to deteriorate. He didn't get out of bed, didn't want to eat, didn't want to change clothes or bathe. He also didn't want massages. I was there in case he called me, but he didn't want anything. Physically, he was swollen, and his legs were swollen," he testified.

After hearing his messages from November 17, 2020, in which he said that Maradona was "very swollen all over his body," "lying down for 26 hours," and "has eyes swollen like a demon," Taffarel explained to the judges: "He was swollen and didn't move from the bed. He was in the same position for two days. I think Luque told me that he was going through a process of understanding what state his life was in, after he stopped drinking alcohol. Regarding the swelling, he said it would pass when he recovered, but it didn't pass. It got worse. He also had tremors in his hands, and he would tell jokes that were impossible to understand."

Taffarel recalled the last time he saw Maradona alive. It was on the morning of November 24, 2020. According to him, he wanted to get Diego moving and entered his room. "I said to him: 'Hello, number 10, let's move a little and drink some mate'," he recounted. "He said to me: 'I don't want anything, Taffita, it's over'. I asked him: 'What's over?', and he answered: 'Nothing, it's over'. Those were his last words to me."