Maradona sedated in hospital.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona was given sedatives to curb alcohol cravings at a Buenos Aires hospital on Thursday and doctors said heavy drinking was to blame for his latest health crisis.


The 46-year-old, revered as one of the game's best players, has battled with obesity and cocaine addiction, appearing overweight and smoking cigars in recent photographs.


Maradona -- a national hero who led Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986 -- was admitted to the private Guemes hospital late on Wednesday after falling ill. His doctor said he would stay for at least a week.


"He's out of danger and doing satisfactorily ... All the tests are routine," medical director Hector Pezzella told reporters, adding that Maradona's condition was not related to the use of illegal drugs. "He's sedated ... due to alcohol abstinence."


He said Maradona had friends and his two daughters at his bedside. Outside, fans wearing Argentina's national soccer shirt and banners from Maradona's former club Boca Juniors gathered, some shouting "Come on Diego, hang in there."


Maradona's personal physician, Dr. Alfredo Cahe, blamed his patient's jet-set lifestyle, family problems and an addictive personality for his fresh bout of health troubles, and said he had tried to leave the hospital early on Thursday.


He said Maradona had swapped his addiction to cocaine for alcohol. "It happened bit by bit, but that's what happened."


Maradona's hospital stay was a reminder of the repeated health problems -- many drug-related --- he has faced since retiring from the game in 1997.


Cahe said just this week that Maradona had put on weight and smoked too many cigars, and was planning a trip to Switzerland to get himself back in shape.


A stomach-stapling operation in 2005 helped Maradona shed 66 pounds (30 kg) and transformed the bloated and hefty figure that plagued him after his playing days ended.


In 2000, Maradona was hospitalized with a severe heart problem while on vacation in Uruguay and tested positive for cocaine before undergoing drug rehabilitation in Cuba.


Four years later, he spent 10 days in intensive care with heart and breathing problems and re-entered rehabilitation.


Maradona's doctor said this month that the star had an "addictive type of personality," but he denied that he was using cocaine again.


He was suspended for drugs while playing in Italy in 1991 and kicked out of the 1994 World Cup after a dope test -- which he blamed on a member of his coaching team buying the wrong medicine off a supermarket shelf.

Posted on March 29th

Ailing Maradona progressing well


SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - The health of one of the most enduring sports icons in the world, retired soccer star Diego Maradona, is improving after he received treatment for alcoholism, and excessive eating and smoking.

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"He is progressing well," said Hector Pezzella, director of the private Guemes Sanatorium clinic in Buenos Aires, where the 47-year-old former World Cup star was taken by ambulance Wednesday.


Pezzella said Maradona, who has battled against obesity and cocaine addiction in the past, was "obeying doctors" on treatment for withdrawal symptoms, and "never once was aggressive."


Alfredo Cahe, Maradona's personal physician, said excessive drinking, eating and cigar smoking was to blame for the latest episode, not cocaine.


Doctors have said Maradona's life is not in danger and detoxification would take at least five days.


"The most important thing is that he gets through this period of excessive alcohol consumption," Pezzella said.


Maradona, who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title in Mexico, was hospitalized in Uruguay in 2000 and again in 2004 in Buenos Aires.


He was counselled for drug abuse in Argentina in 2004 and, in September of that year, travelled to Cuba for treatment at Havana's Center for Mental Health.


Two years ago, he underwent gastric bypass surgery in Colombia and soon after sported a thinner look.


One of the greatest players ever to play the game, Maradona was twice voted South American player of the year (1979 and 1980) and made his international debut for Argentina at the tender age of 16.


After starting as a teen sensation with Argentinos Juniors in his native country and a short injury-plagued stint with Barcelona in Spain's La Liga, Maradona joined Italian team Napoli in 1984.


It was while he played in Italy that the legend of Maradona began to take shape.


Maradona almost single-handedly transformed Napoli into a soccer power.


In 259 matches between 1984 and 1991, he scored 115 goals in Serie A, a league known for strong defensive play, and led Napoli to a pair of division titles and the 1989 UEFA Cup.


Maradona's greatest triumph, however, came at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.


In seven games, Maradona scored five goals to lead Argentina to the championship over West Germany, but the moment that defined his career was his two-goal performance against England in the quarter-final.


Maradona snapped a scoreless tie by punching the ball into the English net, a goal he later claimed was guided by God's hand, leading to the goal being remembered since as "The Hand of God."


Dazzling goal

Amid vehement protest, the disputed goal stood and England reeled.

Maradona took full advantage three minutes later, bursting into English territory and slaloming his way around defenders before beating goalkeeper Peter Shilton for a dazzling goal and a 2-0 advantage.

Some observers say it was the most spectacular goal ever scored.

As the 1980s came to an end and the 1990s opened, Maradona's career began to flounder.

As he battled a weight problem and drug abuse, Maradona's game began to suffer.

He left Napoli, floating between teams in Spain and Argentina, usually staying a year or less at each club.

In 1994, he was tossed off Argentina's World Cup side after testing positive for the banned substance ephedrine.

Not only was the positive drug test a huge embarrassment for him, but it also ended his career on the national team.

In 1993, he returned to Argentina's domestic league, where he played sporadically for four years - scoring only seven goals in 36 games - before finally retiring in 1997 after he failed a drug test.

In 2000, FIFA, soccer's world governing body, chose Maradona as the game's best-ever player alongside Brazilian legend Pele.

With files from the Associated Press