World Cup winner Diego Maradona is responding well only a day after having brain surgery in his native Argentina.

He was admitted to the Ipensa clinic in Buenos Aires on Monday (November 2) after suffering from anaemia, dehydration and signs of depression.

Maradona later was transferred to a specialist private clinic in Olivos to receive his surgery.

Footage from Wednesday shows interviews with Diego Maradona's doctor Leopoldo Luque and his lawyer.

"Diego is fine. We are trying to make him recover progressively. We are working together, and Diego has been responding very well. Diego's evolution is day by day. He will be in intensive care, and we will see at what point in decision with the doctors we perform a CT scan," Leopoldo Luque said.

Matias Morla stated: "His depression is a product of the pandemic and circumstance that were surrounding him. At the request of his doctor Leopoldo Luque he was hospitalised, and there appeared the clot."

SHOTLIST:

1. Various of the clinic where Maradona is interned in Buenos Aires
2. Various of journalists
3. SOUNDBITE, LEOPOLDO LUQUE, Diego Maradona's Doctor
4. Various of the posters in support of Maradona in the clinic
5. SOUNDBITE, MATIAS MORLA, Lawyer of Diego Maradona
6. Various of journalists overnight at the clinic
7. Various of clinic overnight

STORYLINE:

Argentine football great Diego Maradona is recovering "without complications" from successful brain surgery for a blood clot, his personal doctor said on Wednesday.

Surgeons at a specialist private clinic in Buenos Aires spent 80 minutes removing the clot on Tuesday night.

"He has no neurological issues. He's progressing without any complications," said his doctor Leopoldo Luque.

World Cup winner Maradona had been taken to hospital in La Plata – where he is the coach of top-flight side Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata – on Monday for a series of tests after feeling unwell.

A scan revealed the blood clot, and on Tuesday he was transferred to the specialist clinic in a northern neighbourhood of the capital.

"We managed to successfully remove the clot. Diego coped well with the surgery," said Luque.

Maradona, who turned 60 on Friday, has suffered ill health before. He has survived two heart attacks, and also contracted hepatitis and underwent gastric bypass surgery.

Due to his age and previous health issues, Maradona is considered high risk in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit Argentina hard.

Several times in the last eight months he has been in isolation and was forced to stay at home last week after a bodyguard showed coronavirus symptoms, although he later tested negative.

Prior to falling ill, Maradona had been depressed, his lawyer Matías Morla said on Wednesday.

"He was behaving strangely, he was very depressed and spoke about dead relatives that he missed," said Morla.

He said Maradona was "very worried" about the surgery and praised Luque, adding that "if he hadn't detected the clot, Maradona's destiny would have been different."

Luque insisted on Tuesday that the procedure was "a routine operation."

"The operation consists of a small incision to drain the blood. In 24 or 48 hours the patient can leave the hospital," neurosurgeon Raul Matera told TyC Sports channel.

Maradona was transferred from the hospital in La Plata, 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of Buenos Aires, to the capital at 6pm local time (2100 GMT) on Tuesday accompanied by another daughter, Giannina.

Dozens of Gimnasia fans outside the La Plata hospital chanted his name as he left.

Earlier in the day, Luque claimed Maradona was suffering from anaemia – a lack of iron in his system – and dehydration.

He also suggested Maradona's lifestyle had contributed to his condition.

"He's an elderly patient with many pressures in his life. It's a time when we must help him. It's very difficult to be Maradona," Luque said of the star.

SOUNDBITE, LEOPOLDO LUQUE, Doctor of Diego Maradona

"Diego is fine, he is with analgesia, we are trying to make him recover progressively, these are decisions of the intensive care doctors, we are working together, and Diego (Maradona) has been responding very well. Diego's evolution is day by day, In principle today (yesterday Wednesday) he will be (in intensive care) we will see at what point in decision with the doctors we perform a control tomography, that will always depend on the evolution, the evolution is very favorable, for which we are observing him "

SOUNDBITE, MATIAS MORLA, Lawyer for Diego Maradona

"Diego had presented a clinical picture of depression, which was treated by the lawyer Carlos Díaz, before he had noticed some mental issue, which in principle the lawyer linked it to the question of birthday (60, Friday) and the depression product of the pandemic and all this circumstance that was surrounding him and then when he saw that this picture was progressing, at the request of (his doctor) Leopoldo Luque was hospitalized and there appeared (the clot) "