Former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona gives a thumbs up from the tribune before the Argentine First Division soccer match between Boca Juniors and Velez Sarsfield at La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires in this October 1, 2006.[File Photo]

BEIJING, April 2 -- Football legend Diego Maradona is not suffering from "real alcoholism" but remains stable in hospital with liver problems, his personal physician Alfredo Cahe said Saturday.

    Cahe told reporters at the Buenos Aires hospital where Maradona, 46, was rushed three days ago, that his condition is "fine and stable" and for the moment "without unexpected complications."

    "By the 'hand of God' we can help him," Cahe said, making a reference to the football star's outrageous 1986 World Cup score against England, when he tipped the ball into the goal with his hand unnoticed by the referee.

    Doctors said that Maradona, called one of the greatest players of the last century but whose career on and off the pitch has been marred by repeated drug and alcohol abuse, had been hospitalized related to drinking.

    The only official medical report from the hospital Saturday said "Maradona's clinical development is good," and said he had undergone several different tests and scans.

    "He has been given psychotropic medication required by the detoxification program," the statement said.

    Cahe said the athlete's problems stemmed from more than alcohol consumption.

    "It isn't real alcoholism. There was alcohol, diet, tobacco in excess, most certainly issues of privacy and of a high level of stress that was happening.

    "All of that in greater or smaller amounts has affected him at this moment."

    Cahe said Maradona's life was not in danger, but conceded that he would have to stay hospitalized for a time.

    "The problems are his liver and withdrawal from alcohol," Cahe said.

    "It is like he has hepatitis, but it is not that."

    Maradona has suffered from chronic hepatitis since he contracted hepatitis B in 1991, while he played for Barcelona.

    Maradona was rushed to the hospital from his parents' house late Wednesday with unknown symptoms.

    "It was good we moved quickly, because if not the situation would have turned out differently," Cahe said.

    Days earlier Cahe had said the former Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli star might leave for Switzerland for treatment after his weight had again ballooned.

    Newspaper photographs early this month appeared to show he had regained many of the 50 kilograms (110 pounds) lost after he had gastric bypass surgery in 2005.

    Another showed him in a Buenos Aires nightclub with an injured nose after falling off a chair.

    He had also been in the news after Argentina's central bank said it had begun collecting information about Maradona's bank accounts, suggesting the football great was under investigation for tax evasion.

    Cahe claimed that Maradona had made an incredible recovery from his 2004 heart attack, which followed a cocaine overdose.

    "His heart is stronger than ever," he said.

    Cahe said Maradona could spend another week in the hospital, after which they could still make the trip to Switzerland for treatment.

    (Source: chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)