Diego Maradona was among thousands who paid respects Thursday to former president Nestor Kirchner as his body lay in state at Argentina's presidential palace.
Maradona, who coached Argentina four months ago in the World Cup, gave a long embrace to Kirchner's widow - Argentina President Cristina Fernandez - and placed his hand on Kirchner's flag-draped coffin.
Maradona afterward called Kirchner a ''gladiator'' and compared him to Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara, the Argentina-born revolutionary who played a key role in Cuba's 1959 revolution.
''Losing him is terrible for us,'' Maradona said. ''Argentina lost a gladiator, a man who was always involved, who pulled us out of the well.
''I didn't have a deep friendship with him, but the little contact I had he seemed to be a man driven by his ideals. Che Guevara was also driven by his ideals - my idol. It's true that Nestor had many qualities of Che Guevara.''
Cristina Fernandez had supported Maradona as Argentina's coach and urged him to stay on after losing to Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals. Kirchner was an avid fan and a supporter of the Buenos Aires club Racing.
