The Argentinian football legend died at home, his lawyer has confirmed, a fortnight after leaving hospital following surgery for a blot clot in his brain.
Maradona is widely recognized as one of the greatest footballers of all time, leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 where he gained notoriety for the ‘Hand of God’ goal against England.
Brazil legend Pele, also regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, paid his own tribute to Maradona following the news.
As quoted by Reuters, Pele admitting that he is sad to “lose friends this way”.
He added: “Certainly one day we’ll kick a ball together in the sky above.”
Current Argentina captain Lionel Messi admitted five years ago that Maradona helped shape his path into football.
“I never followed anyone in particular, although when I started to think for myself Diego [Maradona] had recently returned home,” he said in 2015.
“That was in 1993. He joined Newell’s Old Boys when he came back from Spain and was part of the national team that qualified for USA ’94.
“If anybody inspired me starting out, it was undoubtedly him.”
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