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Diego Maradona's body arrives at presidential palace for period of lying in state

Diego Maradona's body arrives at presidential palace for period of lying in state

Diego Maradona's body arrives at presidential palace for period of lying in state

Argentina legend Diego Maradona’s coffin arrived at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires for a period of lying in state. Maradona, aged 60, passed away on Wednesday after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The World Cup-winning Argentine maestro was recovering from brain surgery and died of a heart attack on Wednesday. Maradona was renowned for his majestic left-foot and impeccable control with the ball. He was most loved for his spells with clubs Boca Juniors in his homeland and Napoli in Italy, where he won club’s only two Serie A titles.

“You are eternal in every heart in world football,” the Twitter account of the Argentina national team posted alongside a picture of Maradona holding the World Cup.

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Napoli’s Twitter feed said: “Always in our hearts, Ciao Diego.” Boca posted: “Eternal thanks. Eternal Diego.”
Maradona also played for Barcelona and Sevilla, Argentinos Juniors and Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina before starting on an indifferent managerial career.

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“Thank you for everything Diego. FC Barcelona expresses its deepest condolences regarding the death of Diego Armando Maradona, a player for our club (1982-84) and an icon of world football,” Barcelona said in a statement.

Maradona’s affair with drugs and alcohol is known to all which gave him the tag of a controversial footballer. His struggle with addiction – cocaine – and his weight was in contrast to many footballing greats. But despite all this, his god-gifted skills with the ball made him being regarded as arguably the greatest of all-time.

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The former Napoli megastar had emergency surgery for a subdural haematoma, a blood clot on the brain. He was admitted to the hospital longer than expected as he was showing withdrawal symptoms for his dependency on alcohol before passing away on Wednesday after a heart attack.