Maradona checks out of hospital after 12 days

ARGENTINA football star Diego Maradona has checked out of hospital following 12 days in intensive care for heart and lung problems.

The 43-year-old Argentine soccer great departed the Suizo-Argentina hospital in near-secrecy, leaving in a car with tinted windows yesterday. He left to seek "more personalised treatment" from his own doctor, his medical team said in a statement. Maradona who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup was reportedly taken to a country home of a friend in the suburbs of Buenos Aires.

Outside the hospital in Buenos Aires, dozens of fans chanted "Ole! Ole! Ole!" and unfurled a large white banner with Maradona's picture, and the message, "God exists." As news spread that Maradona had left, other well-wishers honked their horns as they drove by.