Maradona 'in love' with Chavez
2005-04-01 10:15
Caracas - Former soccer star Diego Maradona came out of a meeting on Thursday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez saying he was "in love" with the populist leader.
"I like women, but I left in love with Chavez," he said.
According to Maradona, who said he had met with such leftist world leaders as Fidel Castro and Moammar Ghadafi, Chavez is a "giant".
"I feel proud to have spent the time together, to have spoken about everything, to have shared lunch. I think Chavez does good to the world," Maradona said. "He's a number '10'".
Chavez met with Maradona for nearly two hours at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.
Maradona recently underwent gastric bypass surgery in an effort to lose weight and has apparently lost about 10kg.
The 44-year-old former soccer great, addicted to cocaine, has been undergoing drug rehabilitation in Cuba and last year spent several months at a psychiatric clinic in Argentina after he suffered respiratory failure and heart disease that forced his emergency hospitalisation.
"Maradona is very much recovered," Chavez said in brief remarks to reporters.
Chavez invited Maradona to attend the Under-17 South American soccer tournament to be played in Maracaibo. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA