Gary Lineker has led tributes to Diego Maradona following the football legend’s death

And following the news of his death, the sporting world has flooded social media with tributes to the iconic Argentine football hero, who was widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time.

Fellow retired football star Lineker - who played against Maradona in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final - wrote on Twitter: “Reports from Argentina that Diego Armando Maradona has died. By some distance the best player of my generation and arguably the greatest of all time. After a blessed but troubled life, hopefully he’ll finally find some comfort in the hands of God. #RipDiego (sic)”

Whilst Pele, Maradona’s only competitor to be the 20th century’s greatest player, described his former rival as “a great friend” and a “legend”.

In his own Twitter post, which was written in Portuguese, he wrote: “What sad news. I lost a great friend and the world lost a legend. There is still much to be said, but for now, may God give strength to family members. One day, I hope we can play ball together in the sky.”

Elsewhere, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández has dec lared three days of national mourning following the legendary footballer’s death, which will begin on Wednesday.

He said in a tweet: “You took us to the highest of the world. You made us immensely happy. You were the greatest of all. Thanks for having existed, Diego. We will miss you all our lives.”

Whilst in a TV interview in Argentina, he added: “Today is a bad day, a very sad day for all Argentines. I doubt that we will ever see another player like Maradona. The best thing about Diego is that he was an absolutely genuine man, he was not a fake man, he was a genuine man who expressed everything with the force with which he played football, he defended what he wanted, mistreated what he hated. That was Maradona in his purest state.”

A minute’s silence was also held for Maradona ahead of Manchester City’s match at Olympiakos.