RIO DE JANEIRO, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's national team will be accompanied by Diego Maradona as they prepare for Sunday's World Cup final against Germany at the Maracana stadium.
The 1986 World Cup winner has checked himself into the same hotel as the Albiceleste squad in Rio's beachside neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca, Folha de S. Paulo reported.
It will be the first time this tournament that Maradona will visit Alejandro Sabella's team, which has been based in Vespasiano, near the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.
Maradona has been working in Brazil during the World Cup as a journalist for Venezuelan television broadcaster TeleSur.
His presence is understood to have irked some members of Argentina's Football Association.
The entity's president Julio Grondona, with whom Maradona has a long-running feud, accused the former Barcelona and Napoli forward of bringing bad luck to the team during their group match against Iran in Belo Horizonte.
The 53-year-old left the Mineirao stadium late in the match with the scores tied at 0-0 before Lionel Messi promptly scored the winning goal.
"Maradona is a curse," Grondona wrote after the match on Twitter.
Maradona was captain of the Argentina team that beat Germany 3- 2 at the 1986 World Cup final at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
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