Maradona on the mend

Diego Maradona, who has been in intensive care for eight days with heart and breathing problems, is improving and has had an intravenous drip removed, according to a hospital statement issued on Monday.

The 43-year-old Argentina World Cup winner can tolerate liquids, is breathing without the aid of an artificial respirator and will start a diet later on Monday, added the statement released by the Suizo-Argentina clinic in Buenos Aires.

However, Maradona remains in intensive care and still requires another drip for a lung infection.

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Maradona, who has put on so much weight he is scarcely recognisable from his playing days, was taken to hospital on April 18 with a swollen heart and breathing difficulties. Doctors later said he also had pneumonia.

His fans have kept a vigil outside the hospital and join the media in the scramble for the official bulletins which are handed out in what has become a midday ritual.

"He is breathing on his own, with good ventilatory mechanics. He is stable hemodynamically, even after the suspension of intravenous...drugs," the statement added in a reference to his heart and blood circulation.

"The infection is still being controlled with intravenous antibiotics," said the statement without using the word pneumonia.

"He is tolerating liquids adequately and will begin a diet today (Monday)."

DAUGHTER'S ATTACK

Maradona was taken off the artificial respirator for the first time on Friday but put back on hours later. The hospital announced on Sunday that it had been removed for a second time.

Maradona, who has been undergoing a drugs rehabilitation programme in Cuba since 2000, returned to Argentina in March.

He spent his time playing golf, visiting his daughters and appearing on television chat shows before falling ill shortly after watching a match at his beloved Boca Juniors, where he owns a VIP box.

His daughter Dalma Nerea said in a television interview on Sunday that Maradona was getting much better and also attacked the media for circulating lies about her father.

"They've treated him without respect, taking advantage of the fact that my dad can't answer back because he's under sedation," she said.