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Maradona transferred to drugs rehabilitation centre
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has left hospital and entered a drugs rehabilitation centre in west Buenos Aires, Argentine television reported.
Maradona, 43, one of the most famous footballers of all time and the 1986 World Cup winning captain, has checked into the Del Parque private clinic in Castelar.
He left the Suizo-Argentina hospital by ambulance where he has been admitted twice since April 18, suffering from heart and lung problems.
A hospital statement said: "The medical staff announce that Diego Maradona has successfully recovered from his health emergency and has been transferred to a centre where he will receive specialized treatment."
Though neither the hospital nor family members disclosed his destination, television pictures showed the ambulance entering the private clinic.
Since Saturday, Maradona's family had been trying to find a centre which would accept the player. Several clinics had refused to take him, fearing he would resist treatment and the media circus would deny privacy to other patients.
Claudio Belocopit, the director of the Suizo-Argentina hospital had said: "To accept a patient like him is not easy. Several clinics have refused because he is simply not like other patients."
Maradona had been kept under sedation in the intensive care unit of the hospital while he fought symptoms associated with coming off drugs.
The 106-kilogram, 1.68-meter (234-pound, 5ft 8ins) former player has been fighting cocaine addiction for years and a number of doctors believe that is the cause of his health problems which saw him come close to death last month.
Maradona did not want to go to an Argentine drug rehabilitation centre, preferring to returning to Cuba where he has been fighting his addiction since 2000.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro even put a plane at Maradona's disposal should he want to return to the island, according to sources close to the player.
Maradona had wanted to go back to the luxurious residence at General Rodriguez, 50km to the north west of Buenos Aires, where immediately after leaving hospital the first time he spent his time playing golf, kicking a football and walking outdoors without a shirt on in cold, autumnal weather, bringing about his re-admission to hospital early Wednesday.
He led Argentina to their second World Cup in 1986 after winning a controversial quarter-final against England, when he scored his "Hand of God" goal by fisting the ball over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
Maradona led Argentina to the final of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, but could not prevent West Germany taking the trophy.
He was thrown out of his fourth World Cup in the United States in 1994 after testing positive for a cocktail of drugs. |
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