Diego Maradona has died from a heart attack less than a month after turning 60.
The Argentinian football legend died at home, his lawyer said, just three weeks after having surgery on a blood clot in his brain.
Maradona won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986, having knocked England out of the tournament in a match which saw him score the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal and another – widely considered to be one of the greatest goals of all time.
Renowned for his breathtaking playing ability, Maradona’s wild life off the pitch was equally notorious; running around with the mafia in Naples, serial womanising and a lethal dependency on alcohol and cocaine.
Argentina’s president Alberto Fernandez decreed three days of mourning following Maradona’s death.
‘You took us to the top of the world. You made us immensely happy. You were the greatest of all,’ the Argentine leader tweeted. ‘Thanks for having existed, Diego. We will miss you for a lifetime.’
The footballer’s family have yet to make any formal comment.
Maradona is survived by five children, including his daughters Dalma, 33, and Ganina, 31, by his first and only wife Claudia Villafane, 58, to whom he was married from 1984 to 2004.
Nine ambulances were sent to his house at around midday on Wednesday in the exclusive gated neighbourhood of San Andres north of Buenos Aires where Maradona went to live after leaving hospital.
Local reports said one of the nurses caring for him had raised the alarm after discovering he had suffered a suspected heart attack.
None of the paramedics who rushed to the house were able to do anything to save him
Argentina’s former manager Cesar Luis Menotti said: ‘I’m devastated. I can’t believe it. I’m absolutely gutted. There’s no more I can say at this moment.
‘I thought at first the news of his death was fake news but obviously it’s what happened. It’s terrible and a tragic surprise because measures had been taken to make sure he was being looked after.’
There is no suggestion there is anything suspicious about Maradona’s death, but state prosecutors are on their way to the house where the soccer legend died as part of a routine investigation.
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