OLIVOS, Argentina (AFP) – Argentine football legend Diego Maradona left hospital on Wednesday, eight days after undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain.
Maradona left the Olivos clinic in Buenos Aires by ambulance shortly after his doctor Leopoldo Luque told reporters he could go home.
Luque had earlier published on Instagram a photo of himself hugging the 60-year-old, who wore a bandage on his head.
Maradona is expected to continue his rehabilitation in Tigre, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Buenos Aires, near his daughter Giannina’s home.
”Diego has gone through perhaps the hardest time of his life,” his lawyer Matias Morla said earlier Wednesday, adding it was a ”miracle” that the clot ”which could have taken his life, was detected.”
Ronaldo scores 102nd international goal
LISBON (AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo edged closer to the all-time record for most international goals as European champions Portugal thrashed Andorra 7-0 in a friendly on Wednesday.
The Juventus star came on a substitute to net his 102nd goal for Portugal in the 85th minute.
Former Iran striker Ali Daei holds the record on 109 goals.
Portugal, which wil; continue the preparations for their European Championship title defence next year with a Nations League game with France on Saturday, cruised past Andorra.
Wolves winger Pedro Neto gave them an early lead, before a double from Paulinho, either side of a Renato Sanches strike, made it four.
Thunder name Daigneault head coach
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The Oklahoma City Thunder promoted assistant Mark Daigneault to head coach, succeeding Billy Donovan who departed in September after the team’s playoff exit.
Daigneault has risen to the position after six years with the club that included a head coaching assignment with Oklahoma City’s developmental G-League team.
The 35-year-old takes the helm with less than three weeks to go before training camp opens on December 1, with the 2020-21 season due to tip off on December 22.
Daigneault, who was an assistant to Donovan last year, will be tasked with getting the Thunder back into the post-season, something Donovan did in each of his five seasons.
But after the Thunder were ousted in the first round of the 2020 playoffs, he departed and was later hired as head coach of the Chicago Bulls.
“We are thrilled to have Mark assume the role of head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder,” Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti said in a statement.
Hamilton poised to clinch 7th title
ISTANBUL (AFP) – Lewis Hamilton can seal a record-equaling seventh drivers’ world title, position himself to be ”best of the best” and set up long-awaited negotiations for a new Mercedes contract at this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix.
The Briton needs only to prevent his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas outscoring him by eight points to retain his crown and, in the eyes of many including former Ferrari rival Felipe Massa, move on to become the most successful in F1 history.
A seventh championship would draw him level with Massa’s erstwhile Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher for titles, but with the record for wins, poles and podiums, as well as consecutive points finishes, he will in many eyes already be the ”greatest of all time”.
Brazilian Massa, who himself missed out on a title triumph when Hamilton claimed his first in Sao Paulo in 2008, has no doubt that the Englishman, whose contract expires later this year, will deserve that soubriquet and a salary to match it.
