Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona has died, aged 60.

Maradona, who was regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, reportedly died of a heart attack at his home in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday.

He is survived by his first and only wife Claudia Villafane, 58, to whom he was married from 1984 to 2004, and five children.

Maradona had just undergone an emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain, two weeks ago.

Maradona is renowned for the "Hand of God" goal, and the "Goal of the Century", which came four minutes later, in Argentina's quarter-final match against England in the 1986 World Cup.

The former refers to the goal Maradona scored using his hand, while the latter is one that he scored after individually dribbling past several England players. Maradona later won the golden ball for player of the tournament.

Despite his brilliance on the pitch, Maradona's career was riddled with his womanizing and weight issues, as well as drug and alcohol addiction problems. Since the year 2000, he has suffered a series of cocaine-induced heart failures.

He had a brief stint coaching the Argentina national football team between 2008 and 2010.

Tributes began pouring in on social media, as soon as news of Maradona's passing got out.

Fellow football legend Pele, of Brazil, tweeted: "What sad news. I lost a great friend and the world lost a legend. One day, I hope we can play ball together in the sky."

The Argentine government has declared three days of mourning, with its President Alberto Fernandez saying in a tweet: "You took us to the highest point in the world, and made us immensely happy. You were the greatest of all. Thank you for having been with us, Diego. We will miss you all our lives."

Thousands poured onto the streets of Buenos Aires to mourn Maradona. He was also mourned in Naples, Italy, where he led S.S.C Napoli to two Serie A titles.


Source: Channel News Asia, apnews.com
Photo source: thesefootballtimes.co, wikipedia