Ailing Maradona's goals shine bright in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 20 (Reuters) Despite soccer great Diego Maradona's self-destructive slide into alcohol and drug abuse, many of his compatriots are steadfast in support of the man who still makes them proud to be Argentine.

''He will always be forgiven,'' said Buenos Aires attorney Marcelo Pose, 39.

In the latest crisis linked to years of substance abuse -- including a severe heart complaint and a gastric bypass -- Maradona, 46, has been in the hospital for most of the last three weeks with alcoholic hepatitis.

His doctors plan to move him next week to a psychiatric institution for rehabilitation.

Psychologist and addiction specialist Claudio Cabrera, who is not involved in Maradona's treatment, reflected public concern in calling the athlete's decline ''slow motion suicide.'' ''He's at risk of dying if he continues like this,'' Cabrera said.

One of the most brilliant soccer players ever, Maradona led Argentina to its 1986 World Cup victory and is so intensely revered that, even a decade after his retirement, people routinely call him a god and cannot think of any Argentine in history they admire more.

The adulation has survived the star's struggle with multiple demons: cocaine, alcohol, tobacco and obesity.

SEEN AS A GOD ''Maradona's work as a soccer player is one of the few satisfactions Argentines have had in recent decades. That's why he gets turned into a god,'' Cabrera said.

Since the 1970s, Argentina's once-strong middle class has eroded and the country has suffered a military dictatorship notorious for human rights abuses, the ill-advised invasion of the Falklands or Malvinas islands, corrupt leadership and debilitating economic crises.

Maradona was an antidote to the upheaval and misery.

''In the last 30 years Argentina has not produced any other public figure as important as Maradona. You can say his name in China, in India, anywhere, and people know it,'' Pose said.

Maradona has been in the spotlight since the 1970s. Now he is often bloated and truculent, but at age 18 he was an outspoken mega-star who came out of a poor shanty-town. His given names, Diego Armando, quickly became popular for Argentine boys.

Like his visionary passing and breathtaking skills on the soccer field, his health problems have played out under a media magnifying glass.

Doctors give regular and lengthy updates on his status when he is hospitalized and hordes of photographers and television cameras chase ambulances when he is moved.

Despite his troubles, Argentines still proudly recall his legendary goal against England in the 1986 World Cup after a lightning solo run that left defenders in the dust.

''He will always be forgiven,'' Pose said.

Dozens of people camped outside the Buenos Aires clinic where Maradona almost died from complications from his cocaine addiction a few years ago.

He later kicked cocaine, lost more than 60 pounds (27 kg) after a 2005 stomach-stapling operation and went on to host a successful television program.

But his personal doctor says alcohol replaced cocaine.

Argentine press reports say Maradona consumed bottles of champagne every day.

''(Rehabilitation) is very, very difficult since he's so famous, there's a lot of pressure from the press,'' Cabrera said. ''But lots of famous people have found the humility to treat their addictions.'' Matias Miranda, a fan who passed by the clinic last week, said Maradona needs to change his friends and stay out of the limelight. ''There are too many idiots hanging around him.'' REUTERS TB KP2012