Fans believe Maradona is more sinned against than a sinner

Buenos Aires: Football legend Diego Maradona was no longer in critical condition on Thursday after being rushed to hospital five days earlier, apparently at death’s door with heart and breathing problems.

His personal doctor Alfredo Cahe told local radio the 43-year-old appeared to have pulled through and that within 72 hours he could be taken off a respirator.

“He is past the critical state,” said Cahe. “Diego is very strong. His heart is unbelievable and has almost returned to its normal state. It is still enlarged, but it is working normally. I think that in 72 hours’ time we can take him off the respirator.”

Cahe, however, appeared more optimistic than a doctor at the Swiss-Argentine Clinic who told a newspaper that the situation remains complicated.“We are working on him on a day-to-day basis. At the moment, Mr Maradona is responding well to the medication and it is not causing side effects,” said the doctor, who asked not to be named.

Maradona was admitted to the clinic on Sunday just hours after seeing his former side Boca Juniors play but Cahe has denied that his problems were drug-related.

The Argentine footballing superstar became addicted to cocaine during a seven-year spell, 1984-91, a period in which he played with Italian side Napoli.

Since his admission to hospital, only his parents, ex-wife Claudia Villafane, two daughters and some close friends have been allowed to see him.

Maradona’s daughter Dalma said in a radio interview that her father was improving.

“He’s getting better every day,” she said. “I’m happy that he’s better every day.”

Maradona’s fans have kept a vigil outside the clinic since Sunday when the 43-year-old arrived in a feverish condition with breathing difficulties and a swollen heart. Doctors say he has also developed pneumonia.

The fans have lit candles and plastered the walls with messages of support.

Supporters of Boca Juniors, the club he has supported since he was a boy and where he played for one year before moving to Barcelona, chanted Maradona’s name throughout Wednesday’s Libertadores Cup match against Bolivar. The Boca team unfurled a banner with a message of support before kickoff.

It is a nearly decade since Maradona was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup for failing a doping test. In those 10 years, Maradona has stumbled from one personal crisis to another.

He has been dogged by drugs abuse, had an attempted playing comeback stopped in its tracks after he tested positive for cocaine in his first match and three failed attempts to enter the world of coaching.

It is a catalogue of problems which, if he were another player in another country, could have led to him being considered an outcast. Yet, Argentines have refused to allow Maradona’s decline cloud their memories of his achievements.

Many believe Maradona as a victim rather than culprit, pointing out that after rising from poverty to lead his team to World Cup victory in 1986, he has virtually been looked upon as a cash machine by entrepreneurs.

Even supporters of River Plate, arch-rivals of Maradona’s beloved club Boca Juniors, have been taking part. Many people have travelled from the provinces, including three unemployed youths who told reporters they had managed to hitch a lift in a lorry by holding out a message that read: “Take us to Buenos Aires to see Maradona.” (Agencies)