Photos: Thousands of fans line the streets of Buenos Aires as Diego Maradona is laid to rest

Photos ⬇ Diego Maradona has been laid to rest after thousands of fans lined the streets of Buenos Aires to pay their respects as his coffin was driven to the cemetery on Thursday.

The hearse carrying the casket of soccer legend Diego Maradona drives to the cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 26, 2020

The 1986 World Cup winner was taken to the Bella Vista cemetery on the outskirts of the capital - where his parents are buried - for a private ceremony attended by family and close friends.

Maradona died of a heart attack aged 60 on Wednesday just two weeks after being discharged from hospital for a bleed on his brain.

Thousands of fans packed the streets around the presidential palace where Maradona lay in state on Thursday and thousands more lined the highways in the afternoon to catch a glimpse of his hearse as it rolled past surrounded by police vehicles.

Maradona's daughters Dalma, 33, and Giannina, 31, by his first wife and childhood sweetheart Claudia Villafane, were seen wiping tears from their eyes as they left for the funeral.

It comes after passions boiled over outside the palace when a mile-long column of fans arrived to pay their respects to the Argentinian hero but were blocked off by riot police.

Due to the sheer numbers many were unable to throw their football jerseys and flowers by Maradona's coffin and so they scrapped ferociously with heavily-armoured police as if attending a football derby.

President Alberto Fernandez has declared three days of national mourning and earlier visited the casket.

'He was someone who touched the sky with his hands but never took his feet off the ground,' the president said. DailyMail

Photos ⬇

People react on the street as the hearse carrying the casket of soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona travels to Bella Vista cemetery, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Relatives and friends carry the coffin of the late Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona during his funeral at the Jardin Bella Vista cemetery, in Buenos Aires province

The coffin with the remains of late Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona is carried by his family and friends at the Jardin Bella Vista cemetery, in Buenos Aires

Aerial view of the burial of late Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona at the Jardin Bella Vista cemetery, in Buenos Aires province, on Thursday

The hearse carrying the casket of soccer legend Diego Maradona drives to the cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 26, 2020

The daughters of the late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, Dalma, 33, (left) and Giannina, 31, leave the Casa Rosada presidential palace at the end of the wake in Buenos Aires on Thursday

Pallbearers take the coffin to the hearse following Maradona's wake at the presidential palace on Thursday

Pallbearers carry the casket of soccer legend Diego Maradona after a public viewing at the presidential palace Casa Rosada, in Buenos Aires

A hearse carries the casket of Diego Maradona to his final resting place after lying in state at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday

Aerial view of the burial of late Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona at the Jardin Bella Vista cemetery, in Buenos Aires province

Fans on the side of the highway cheer to the hearse carrying the body of Diego Maradona that transports him to the cemetery

Aerial view of the burial of late Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona at the Jardin Bella Vista cemetery, in Buenos Aires province, on Thursday