Diego Maradona hospitalized, unrelated to coronavirus: Report

Diego Maradona has been admitted to hospital in Argentina although his condition is not thought to be serious, local media reported on Monday.

Maradona, 60, was reportedly taken to the Ipensa clinic in La Plata, about an hour from Buenos Aires. Maradona coaches the local club Gimnasia y Esgrima.

The reports said Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, was admitted to hospital to undergo tests as he had been feeling poorly for some time and will be held under observation for “several days.”

The Ole.com.ar sports web site, one of Argentina’s biggest, said it was not an emergency and was not related to COVID-19 as he had tested negative in recent days.

Maradona last appeared in public on his 60th birthday last Friday before his side’s league match against Patronato.

He was gifted a plaque and a cake to celebrate the occasion, but he did not stay to watch the game and witnesses said he looked unwell and weak.

The former Napoli, Barcelona and Boca Juniors player has suffered frequent periods in hospital over the years, often due to the extravagant lifestyle that accompanied and followed his playing career.

The former Napoli striker was also admitted to hospital in January 2019 with internal bleeding in the stomach.

He also fell ill at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he was filmed passing out in an executive box at the Argentina-Nigeria game.

Maradona was taken into hospital in 2004 with severe heart and respiratory problems linked to cocaine use. He later underwent drug rehabilitation in Cuba and Argentina before a stomach-stapling operation in 2005 helped him lose weight.

In 2007 he checked himself into a clinic in Buenos Aires to help him overcome alcohol abuse problems.