Argentine football legend Diego Maradona laid to rest: TV

The funeral cortege swept quickly through the streets around the presidential palace, where thousands of fans had filed past Maradona’s coffin.

A parade of supporters in Piazza del Plebiscito, where a choreography with red smoke bombs was set to remember Diego Armando Maradona in Naples on November 26, 2020.

Argentine football legend Diego Maradona was laid to rest on Thursday after a private funeral on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, television images showed.

As darkness fell, Maradona was laid to rest after a simple religious ceremony attended by family and close friends in the leafy surrounds of the Bella Vista cemetery outside the capital.

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Earlier, a hearse bearing the flag-draped coffin of Argentine football legend Diego Maradona rolled through the centre of Buenos Aires as thousands of fans bade him a final farewell.

Amid blaring sirens and surrounded by motorcycle police outriders, the funeral cortege swept quickly through the streets around the presidential palace, where thousands of fans had filed past Maradona’s coffin since early morning.

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The lying in state, which had been extended to cope with the crowds surrounding the palace, was cut short by the family and officials after unruly fans took over an inner courtyard of the presidency.

Police then clashed with fans in the city centre as the event threatened to descend into chaos.

The cortege avoided the main 9 de Julio avenue where many fans had gathered, and instead sped onto a highway out of the capital, following by dozens of photographers and cameramen on motorbikes.

Maradona was to be laid to rest at the Jardin de Paz cemetery on the outskirts of the Argentine capital after a private family ceremony.