Rio de Janeiro: Argentina`s national team will be accompanied by legend Diego Maradona as they prepare for Sunday`s FIFA World Cup final against Germany at the Maracana stadium.
The 1986 World Cup winner has checked himself into the same hotel as the Albiceleste squad in Rio`s beachside neighbourhood of Barra da Tijuca, reports Xinhua.
It will be the first time this tournament that Maradona will visit Alejandro Sabella`s team, which has been based in Vespasiano, near the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.
Maradona has been in Brazil during the World Cup as a journalist for Venezuelan television broadcaster TeleSur.
His presence is understood to have irked some members of Argentina`s Football Association.
The entity`s president Julio Grondona, with whom Maradona has a long-running feud, accused the former Barcelona and Napoli forward of bringing bad luck to the team during their group match against Iran in Belo Horizonte.
The 53-year-old left the Mineirao stadium late in the match with the scores tied at 0-0 before Lionel Messi promptly scored the winning goal.
"Maradona is a curse," Grondona wrote after the match on Twitter.
Maradona was captain of the Argentine team that beat Germany 3- 2 at the 1986 World Cup final at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
IANS
First Published: Friday, July 11, 2014, 15:46
