Argentine football icon Diego Maradona, one of the greatest players of all time has died at the age of 60.
The former Argentina and Napoli football legend suffered a heart attack at his Buenos Aires home.
He had successful surgery on a brain blood clot earlier in November and was to be treated for alcohol dependency.
Maradona won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986, having knocked England out of the tournament.
He scored the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal and another against England. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest goals of all time.
Condolences pouring in
In a statement on social media, the Argentine Football Association expressed, “its deepest sorrow for the death of our legend.”
“You will always be in our hearts.”
Declaring three days of national mourning, Alberto Fernandez, the president of Argentina had this to say.
“You took us to the top of the world. You made us immensely happy. You were the greatest of them all.”
“Thank you for having existed, Diego. We’re going to miss you all our lives,” he noted.
Maradona played for Barcelona and Napoli during his club career, winning two Serie A titles with the Italian side.
He scored 34 goals in 91 appearances for Argentina, representing them in four World Cups.
Maradona led his country to the 1990 final in Italy, where they were beaten by West Germany.
He captained them again in the United States in 1994, but was sent home after failing a drugs test for ephedrine.
Diego Maradona’s drug struggles
Maradona began taking cocaine in the mid-1980s during the height of his playing days, going on to develop an addiction to drugs and alcohol over the next two decades.
His drug use began in 1982 and reportedly grew worse in 1984 when he moved to Napoli and had connections with the Comorra.
In 1991, the year he left the club, he was given a 15-month suspension for drug violations.
Three years later, he was thrown out of the World Cup in America after failing a drugs test, before retiring from football in 1997.
In 1999 and 2000 he was taken to hospital suffering heart problems, the second time requiring a respirator to breathe.
After four years, he was again treated in hospital for severe heart and respiratory problems linked to his drug abuse.
He has undergone two gastric bypass operations to control his weight and received treatment for alcohol abuse.
In January, he had surgery to stem bleeding in his stomach and in July he underwent a knee operation.
