Argentina football legend Diego Maradona said his hero, late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro - whom he considered a “second father” and whose face he had tattooed on his leg - once urged him to go into politics.

Maradona, who died on Wednesday aged 60, never fulfilled those aspirations but he did play a role in championing leftist leaders across Latin America - such as Castro, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales - and in helping to lend them broader international appeal.