Football legend Diego Maradona narrowly escaped heart attack on Tuesday during the explodive World Cup 2018 match between Nigeria and Argentina at St Petersburg.
At half time Maradona allegedly called in hid doctors for immediate checkup as he posted a picture on social mediashowing medical staff with him at half-time of the 2-1 victory, but denied he had been taken to hospital.
“I want to tell everyone that I am fine,” Maradona wrote on his Instagram post. “I was checked by a doctor and he recommended me to go home before the second half, but I wanted to stay because we were risking it all. How could I leave?”
The 57-year-old, who captained Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986, said his “neck hurt a lot”.
Argentina’s victory meant they reached the last 16, where they will face France on Saturday.
Video posted online appeared to show Maradona struggling to get up from his seat at full-time but according to BBC Sport report the football icon later boarded a flight back to Moscow.
Earlier, he was in tears when the score was 1-1, which would have resulted in Argentina’s elimination.
Then, after Marcos Rojo scored the team’s late winner, he was seen giving one-fingered gestures.
Maradona played 91 times for Argentina, scoring 34 goals, and later managed the national side.
Meanwhile, an emotional Diego Maradona’s response with an expletive and a one-fingered salute may earn him a FIFA ban from any of the World Cup stadia.
A highly emotional Maradona rushed to the front of the VIP box where he was watching and gave a one-fingered salute with both hands and shouted an obscene insult to a Nigerian supporter. It was seen by millions of TV viewers worldwide.
The ex-Argentinian captain and manager had already been slammed for making a racist gesture to South Korean fans. His behaviour in the match in St Petersburg could see him banned from entering grounds during the rest of the tournament.
England fan Gerald Cameron, 51, from Norwich, who is in Russia to see the Three Lions play Belgium on Thursday, said: “He needs to be kicked out of Russia.”
There would have been a few million kids watching and he thought it was alright to act like a mad man and behave like that.
