(Karachi) Lamenting the death of Legendary Argentine footballer Diego Maradona, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro said that the soccer star helped the Venezuelan government with food supplies, media reported.

"Maradona has helped us in a number of secret operations to deliver food to the people of Venezuela. Today I can tell about it,” he said in a speech broadcast on Maduro’s Twitter page.

The last meeting of the legendary footballer with the Venezuelan leadership took place in January 2020.

Nicholas Maduro added that they discussed food issues and the former football player then promised to help resolve them.

On November 25, Footballing legend Diego Maradona, often considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, passed away at the age of 60.

The former Argentinian attacking midfielder, who led his team to victory in the 1986 World Cup, suffered a heart attack. After a succesful surgery on a blood clot in his brain earlier in November, Maradona was to be further treated for alcohol dependency.

The Argentinian footballing icon played for Barcelona and Napoli during his playing career, winning two Serie A titles with the Italian side.

He led the national team to the 1990 World Cup final, eventually losing to West Germany, before captaining them once again in the United States in 1994 - during which he was ineligible to play after he failed a drug test for ephedrine. Maradona scored 34 goals in 91 appearances for Argentina.

The latter half of his career was marred by cocaine addiction, having been banned for 15 months after testing positive in a drug test in 1991; after which he retired from professional football in 1997, ending his stint at Argentine giants Boca Juniors at the age of 37.