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Maradona's life still in danger one week on
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona was still fighting for his life on Sunday, a week after being admitted to hospital with severe heart and breathing problems.
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona was still fighting for his life on Sunday, a week after being admitted to hospital with severe heart and breathing problems.
The 43-year-old was removed from the artificial respirator on Friday but had to be put back on it a day later after doctors said that although his condition had not worsened, the sedatives he was taking had diminished his breathing.
Doctors at the exclusive Swiss-Argentine clinic remain cautious about the health of a man who has battled drug addiction for more than a decade.
"Although his recovery is favourable, it will be slow and difficult because of the seriousness of his case and the illnesses at the root of it," said the daily statement from the hospital on Saturday.
The doctors have declined to say whether the former player's current state of health is drug-related.
The Clarin newspaper reported that three Cuban doctors, who have treated Maradona for his drug addiction in the past, arrived in Buenos Aires to work alongside the doctors at the clinic.
Maradona has spent part of the year in Cuba since 2000 and returned from there on March 22 this year for discussions with his lawyers about court action threatened by his former agent Guillermo Coppola, who claims Maradona has defrauded him.
Fans continued to pay a visit to the gates of the clinic, which are now surrounded by cards featuring messages of support.
One young boy said Maradona was a national idol.
"God must save him, he must not forget him. Imagine Argentina without Diego - the magic of football would have died," said the boy.
Maradona led Argentina to its second World Cup victory in 1986 after winning a controversial quarter-final against England, when he scored his infamous "Hand of God" goal by fisting the ball over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton's outstretched hands.
Maradona led Argentina to the final of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, but he was a fading force and West Germany took the trophy.
He played in his fourth World Cup in the United States in 1994 but tested positive for a cocktail of drugs and was thrown out of the tournament.
