Maradona re-admitted to hospital
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Diego Maradona is back in hospital after eating something he should not have, one week after discharging himself after heart and lung trouble.
The Argentine World Cup winner was in a stable condition but was being kept in an intensive care unit because it allows him more privacy.
"His condition is stable," said a hospital statement. "He is in the intensive care unit because it has individual rooms."
Maradona's personal doctor Alfredo Cahe earlier told local radio the 43-year-old would be in hospital "for two or three days for a check-up."
Maradona was expected to travel this week to Cuba, where he has been treated for cocaine addiction for most of the last four years.
Local media said he was on a drip and with an oxygen mask, but the clinic's statement made no mention of his breathing, saying simply there would be a new update on Thursday.
"When they brought him (to hospital) the last time it was hell, people running all over the place," a hospital staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters. "This time it was all much quieter."
Local television channels carried live broadcasts from outside the clinic where hundreds of fans last month held a day and night vigil during his 12-day stay.
Fans again gathered outside, leaving "Get Well" messages posted on the hospital walls. "Again, Keep Fighting, Diego," read one banner.
Maradona, considered one of the finest players in history, was first taken ill with a swollen heart on April 18 after watching his beloved Boca Juniors play. He was heavily sedated and put on artificial respiration, prompting local media to prepare his obituary.
But Maradona surprised many Argentines by playing golf at a plush country getaway the day he left hospital and reports said he had been hankering for a slab of fine Argentine beef.
He was reportedly paid $80,000 for a television interview on Friday in which he said he "was dying" but that his fans had called him back from the tunnel of death.
Rising from a Buenos Aires slum to lead Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986, Maradona's is the ultimate rags-to-riches story. In Argentina, he has gained the status of the likes of Che Guevara and Eva Peron.
At the peak of his form, he led Argentina to a 3-2 triumph over West Germany in the 1986 World Cup final but, in 1991, he failed a dope test for cocaine and was banned for 15 months.
He played in his fourth World Cup in the United States in 1994 but tested positive for a cocktail of drugs the day before he was due to make a record 22nd appearance in the tournament.
