(writes through)
By Simon Gardner and Luis Ampuero
BUENOS AIRES, April 18 - Argentine Diego Maradona,
one of the most gifted soccer players in history, is in
intensive care in a Buenos Aires hospital with heart and
breathing problems.
Doctors said Maradona, 43, who has battled drug addiction
for the past decade, was breathing with the help of a
respirator. He had been taken to hospital after watching a game
at his former club Boca Junior's stadium.
His family doctor Alfredo Cahe refused to comment on media
reports that Maradona had taken a cocaine overdose. Cahe said a
medical update would be issued on Monday.
Family, friends and well-wishers flooded to the
Suizo-Argentina clinic on Sunday evening as news of Maradona's
condition spread.
One teary-eyed fan held aloft a photograph of Maradona in
his soccer-playing prime. A banner read "Diego, Argentina loves
you", while passing cars honked their horns.
STUNNING GOAL
Maradona, the fifth of eight children of a factory worker,
made his international debut in 1977. He moved to Barcelona in
1982 after the World Cup in Spain for