Soccer great Diego Maradona’s brain surgery a success, doctor says

Argentina soccer legend Diego Maradona underwent successful brain surgery to remove a blood clot, his doctors said Tuesday.

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Maradona, 60, who played for the 1986 World Cup champions, was admitted to a hospital in Buenos Aires, ESPN reported.

“I was able to evacuate the hematoma successfully and Diego tolerated the surgery very well,” Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s neurosurgeon and personal physician, told reporters outside the Olivos clinic in Buenos Aires.

Maradona is currently the manager of Gimnasia y Esgrima in Argentina’s top-flight league, NBC Sports reported. He left the team’s match on Friday in the first half, as he reportedly looked ill after receiving a cake and plaque to celebrate his 60th birthday, according to the network. It was Gimnasia y Esgrima’s first match of the season, and the team won 3-0, according to The Athletic.

“He is not well psychologically and that has an impact on his physical well-being,” Luque said earlier Tuesday. “My idea is to have him hydrated for three days, see the evolution and adjust the medication. Diego is a person who is sometimes excellent and sometimes not so much. He could be 10,000 times better, and bringing him here helps him. It’s very difficult being Maradona.”

Maradona has had multiple health problems over the years since ending his playing career in 1997. His most recent issue came in January 2019, when he suffered internal bleeding in his stomach, NBC Sports reported.

Maradona 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, ESPN reported. He was hospitalized in 2004 with severe heart and respiratory problems that were related to a long battle with drug addiction, the sports network reported.

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