Maradona out of hospital after 12 days in intensive care

Argentina soccer great Diego Maradona has left hospital and was being taken care of by friends 12 days after going into intensive care with heart and breathing problems.

Argentina soccer great Diego Maradona has left hospital and was being taken care of by friends 12 days after going into intensive care with heart and breathing problems.

The Suizo-Argentina hospital said the 43-year-old 1986 World Cup-winning captain had been allowed to leave in line with the wishes of his family and personal doctor.

The Todo Noticias channel said Maradona eluded press who have kept a vigil outside the hospital since he was rushed into care after what at first was feared to be a massive heart attack possibly caused by a cocaine overdose.

Police halted traffic outside the hospital to let the ailing star slip away hidden behind a car's tinted windows.

He was later seen taking a few practice swings with a golf club before he went indoors in a luxury villa in a Buenos Aires suburb.

Maradona was believed to have taken his personal doctor and several nursing staff to the house as he continues his recovery.

Maradona was at one stage fighting for his life but he made steady progress in recent days and reports said he had joked with doctors about being given a ball to prove he was better.

Doctors said on Wednesday he was standing up and had taken his first steps since being rushed to hospital.

Doctors have declined to say whether the former player's current state is related to drug addiction, which he has fought for more than a decade.

Maradona became addicted to cocaine during a seven-year spell playing for Italian side Napoli from 1984-91.

His roller-coaster career, which included 34 goals in 91 matches for Argentina, began in 1975 and ended in 1997. He also played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Seville and Newell's Old Boys.

He led Argentina to their second World Cup in 1986 after winning a controversial quarter-final against England, when he scored his "Hand of God" goal by fisting the ball over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton's outstretched hands.

Maradona led Argentina to the final of the 1990 World Cup in Italy where he needed pain-killing injections to play with a serious ankle injury. West Germany gained revenge for their 1986 defeat by taking the trophy.

In 1991, Maradona tested positive for cocaine and was banned for 15 months.

He played in his fourth World Cup in the United States in 1994 after battlig health and weight problems but he tested positive for a cocktail of drugs and was thrown out of the tournament.

In recent years Maradona sought treatment for his addiction in Cuba, where he was often seen alongside the country's president, Fidel Castro.

But since a bloated Maradona returned to Argentina, speculation and concern had grown over his health.