Maradona and Pele launch prime time talk show

Diego Maradona headed a ball with fellow soccer legend Pele as his top guest, hobnobbed with movie stars and entertainers and made a splashy debut as a TV talk show host.

Pele, whom Brazilians claim as soccer’s greatest player of all times, strummed a song on a guitar and Maradona, claimed by Argentines as the greatest in the sport, sang the lyrics to a tango amid flashing strobe lights and the applause of a raucous studio audience.

Welcome to Argentine prime time and Maradona’s debut last night as a weekly television variety show host on a local network.

“To those of you who have cheered on my goals, I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Maradona declared, tears welling in his eyes.

Called La Noche del 10 – Spanish for The Night of 10 in reference to Maradona’s famed No. 10 soccer jersey – last night’s premier by the retired soccer great also featured appearances by former Argentine tennis star Gabriela Sabatini and Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta – most famed for the ’94 film Il Postino or The Postman.

During two hours of air time interspersed with interviews, commercials and stunts, Maradona and Sabatini managed to play a kind of soccer-tennis match on a miniature synthetic court against a team made up of a local actor and Gabriel Batistuta, the leading Argentine national team scorer of all times.

Maradona also read fan letters and gave a master class in kicking a goal to select admirers, all women.

Pele visibly beamed during his appearance.

“For me it’s a proud moment to be here today,” said Pele, the Brazilian star whose 15 years with Santos and 17 with the Brazilian national team are the stuff of legend.

Maradona gave Pele a bear hug, and they exchanged signed soccer jerseys. They even headed a ball back and forth between themselves.

The new television duties for Maradona come only weeks after he was appointed vice president of his beloved Boca Juniors soccer team.

The Boca job, coupled with his entry into prime-time television, marked a wholesale return to the limelight for Maradona since he retired last decade from soccer amid cocaine addiction and grave health problems.

Maradona, 45, has recently dropped weight, unveiling a slimmer profile after stomach stapling surgery. He also has been jetting around the world, making appearances as a broadcast commentator at European soccer matches and taking part in celebrity charity events. At least one movie documentary is also in the works on his life.

Maradona earned his greatest fame leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup soccer championship and went on to become one of the sport’s greatest legends despite battling a cocaine addiction. His most famous goal was the “Hand of God” goal in which he punched the ball into the net against England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals.

The 1986 quarterfinal match against England also included what FIFA, soccer’s governing body, declared the greatest goal ever in World Cup competition – one in which Maradona dribbled half the length of the field, dodging and outrunning nine English players to score the other goal in a 2-1 triumph over England.

In his 20-year career before retiring in 1997, Maradona starred at Argentinos Juniors and Boca Juniors before heading to Europe. He also led Argentina to the 1990 World Cup final and won Italian and Argentine league titles. In 2000, FIFA chose him and Pele as the best players in soccer history.

In 1991, Maradona failed a drug test and was banned for 15 months. He retired in 1997.

In 2000, he had what doctors described as a brush with death when he was hospitalised in the Uruguayan beach resort of Punta del Este. Blood and urine samples turned up traces of cocaine, authorities said.

In need of rehabilitation, Maradona chose Cuba – in part out of his regard for Cuban President Fidel Castro. He also underwent a 12-day hospitalisation in Buenos Aires in April 2004 for what doctors described as heart and lung problems.