Maradona set for trip to Britain

Diego Maradona plans to visit England this weekend to meet Argentine players before his likely debut as coach in next month's friendly against Scotland.

The 48-year-old will fly in to see Manchester United's Carlos Tevez and Liverpool's Javier Mascherano who could play against Hull and Spurs.

Maradona's appointment is expected to be confirmed by the Argentina Football Association on Tuesday.

The team is due to play Scotland at Hampden Park on 19 November.

"I will travel to England on Saturday to see Tevez and Mascherano," the 48-year-old said. "And in Scotland I will make my debut."

"We are going to play the game against Scotland with the best team we've got," he added.

"I really never expected this although I always dreamed of having the chance."

Maradona, who has had two brief spells as a club coach in Argentina, scored his first goal for Argentina in their 3-1 friendly win over Scotland at Hampden in 1979.

If Maradona does take over he will succeed Alfio Basile, who resigned earlier this month after a World Cup qualifying defeat by Chile.

Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi, who will not play against Scotland next month, has welcomed Maradona's expected appointment, despite being recently criticised by the Argentine legend for his attitude on the pitch.

"Those are things that you say at the time. I know Diego appreciates me and I don't hold any grudges," Messi told Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

"There's no problem. He's a great and I admire him for what he gave to Argentine football."

Maradona spent seven seasons at Italian Serie A side Napoli and the club's former president, Corrado Ferlaino, insisted the Argentine was effectively the coach on the pitch.

"There was a time when (Ottavio) Bianchi was the coach but from his second season the players didn't talk to Bianchi, Maradona was the true coach," said Ferlaino.

Widely regarded as one of the best players in the history of the sport, Maradona is an iconic figure in Argentina.

In his remarkable 21-year playing career he hit new heights of brilliance on the field, yet plumbed depths of despair away from it.

His most memorable achievements came with the national side - the 1986 World Cup tournament becoming synonymous with his name.

His first goal of the 2-1 win came courtesy of an outrageous handball which he later described as "the hand of God", but the second is said by many to be the best goal ever scored; Maradona danced past five England players before poking the ball past Peter Shilton.

But Maradona's life away from football has been anything but straightforward, with a long-running addiction to cocaine undermining his genius.

The second failed drugs test of his career saw him sent home from the 1994 World Cup in disgrace, and since retiring at the age of 37, Maradona has suffered numerous health problems.

Battles with his drug addiction, alcoholism and obesity saw him suffer a heart attack in 2004, which put him in intensive care, while a later stomach-stapling operation saw him lose 30kg (66 lbs) of excess weight.

Maradona is a virtual novice in coaching terms, with only short spells with Argentine clubs Deportivo Mandiyu and Racing Club in the 1990s on his CV.

Carlos Bilardo, who coached the winning side in 1986, was involved in the talks with AFA president Julio Grondona and is likely to be part of Maradona's coaching set-up.

Pedro Troglio, who coaches Paraguayan club Cerro Porteno, has also been linked with a role.