Maradona: I feared for my life

Diego Maradona has spoken for the first time about his 12-day stay in hospital for heart and lung problems.

He said in a TV interview: “I want to thank the people who prayed for me. I saw death up close and I wanted them to cover me, to caress me.

“When God decides its time, I guess he’ll come for us.”

Maradona has taken refuge in a country house after leaving hospital and returned to his latest passion – playing golf.

Only a few hours after leaving the intensive care unit of the Suizo Argentina Clinic, the former Argentina captain was seen on a golf course 30 miles from Buenos Aires.

Maradona was admitted to the hospital on April 18 with breathing and heart problems and was in intensive care for a week.

But on Thursday – despite the clinic’s doctors saying he was not ready to go home – he discharged himself and left for the countryside.