HEWAS‘INCREDIBLYSPECIAL’, SAYSTEARFULARDILES

Ossie Ardiles fought back tears as he paid tribute to the “incredibly special” Diego Maradona, who has died aged 60.

Ex-Tottenham and Argentina midfielder Ardiles, 68, was a close friend and former international team-mate of Maradona.

Maradona, the midfield linchpin of the Argentina side that won the 1986 World Cup and former national team manager, had successful surgery to remove a blood clot on the brain in a Buenos Aires hospital earlier this month.

His personal physician Dr Leopoldo Luque said the early signs were “favourable”, but it has been reported that Maradona suffered a fatal heart attack at his home on Wednesday.

An emotional Ardiles told TalkSPORT: “It’s going to be very difficult. He’s a big part of our lives, yes.

“He was incredibly special. He was absolutely fantastic.

“When you watched him play you saw you were in the presence of somebody completely different, beyond what you were expecting.

“When I saw him for the very first time in the national team, we were all pretty good players, but he was miles ahead of us.”

Ardiles acknowledged Maradona’s demons, but said he never stopped trying to help “the poorest people in society”.

“I knew Diego from a very early age and of course I knew exactly what all his struggles were – in fact all the problems he had were outside the pitch.

“He had this problem with power, with presidents, with kings – he couldn’t stand them very well.

“When he was on the pitch he was the happiest person in the world because nobody could touch him there. He knew he was the very best.”

Maradona’s coffin has been taken to the presidential palace in Buenos Aires to mark the start of a three-day period of national mourning.