A bitter legal battle over Diego Maradona is coming to a head almost four years after the football legend died aged 60.

The Argentinian forward, one of the greatest players in the game’s history, had long-documented problems with drugs and alcohol dependency.

His death sparked mourning across the and in particular in his home country, where hundreds of thousands of fans took to the streets. Now grief has turned to anger. Eight members of Maradona’s medical team have been charged with homicide.

And in an exclusive interview with the Mirror , the football icon’s best friend Mariano Israelit has claimed he would still be alive today had he received the care needed.

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“The last thing Diego told me was: ‘Don’t leave me alone, don’t leave me’,” the 57-year-old record producer says.

“I saw with my own eyes the treatment he was being given. It was just wrong on so many levels.”

At the heart of the explosive case – now postponed to March – is the accusation that Maradona’s death, from a heart attack, was preventable. The accused include doctors and several nurses. If found guilty, they could face up to 25 years in prison.

The legal storm surrounding Maradona’s death is not just about medical negligence. It is about the handling of a national treasure. For Argentina, the World Cup hero was more than just a footballer – he was a symbol of national pride, a god-like figure who embodied the hopes and dreams of millions.

Only a handful have ever played the game as well as he did on his way to lifting the 1986 World Cup; fewer still could match Maradona’s spirit. Both sides of him were embodied by his two quarter-final goals against England.

The first was a cheat, the notorious Hand of God goal, when the 5ft 5in forward outjumped 6ft goalkeeper Peter Shilton and knocked the ball into the net with his arm.

But the second was the legitimate Goal of the Century – Maradona danced around the England defence with the ball seemingly glued to his feet.

Mariano, who became close to Maradona in 1982 after going to school with his younger brother Hugo, paints a picture of a legend who was cut off from a world that revered him.

“If they had taken a little more care of him, he would still be here today,” says Mariano, author of El Amigo De Dios (The Friend of God).

“I am sure of that. I saw everything that was going on.”

Mariano, who spent more than nine hours testifying for the investigation, claims he saw how the medical team assigned to Maradona acting suspiciously when he visited his friend.

“The medical staff were strange because he had his own private medicine, but at the same time, the people who worked with him hired other doctors from elsewhere.” Mariano is also convinced that someone has stolen Maradona’s millions.

After a playing career at clubs including Boca Juniors, and Napoli, he managed the Argentina national team as well as sides in his home country, Mexico and the UAE.

“The money is still missing,” adds Mariano. “It is more than $90million [£70 million]. I don’t know who has it but when he returned from Mexico, he invited me to his house.

“He told me: ‘You don’t know how well I did in Dubai and Mexico. I made more than $100m.’

“Today according to his manager’s lawyer, only $10m is left.

“Where is the missing $90m? It makes it worse when you realise that they were biting the hand that fed them.” Lead prosecutor Patricio Ferrari argues that the medical team ignored Maradona’s significant health issues and abandoned him to his fate.

“We are not saying the doctors wanted to kill Maradona,” Ferrari explained. “Rather, they knew it could happen, and they didn’t do anything.”

All the defendants maintain their innocence. “Diego was a messed-up patient,” lawyer Julio Rivas said.

Prosecutors argue that his care in the final weeks of his life was inadequate, deficient and reckless. Maradona had been living in the gated community of Tigre, outside Buenos Aires, before his death on November 25, 2020.

Text messages exchanged between the medical team in the days leading up to his death reveal their awareness of his worsening condition. One chilling message from Cosachov stated: “A bomb is coming for us,” as if anticipating the legal fallout.

In a preliminary hearing, one of Maradona’s nurses has appeared charged with simple homicide with eventual intent, implying she knowingly failed to act when Maradona was deteriorating. She denies the charge and told prosecutors she was following orders to do everything the patient wanted.

“We did not have to bother him, we did not have to enter the room, we only had to give him the medication,” she explained. “If I went in, [Maradona] told me not to.”

As well as the pending court case, there are ongoing battles over Maradona’s estate and image rights – and even his final resting place. His family has requested that his body be moved to a more secure mausoleum.

“They’re not letting that body rest in peace,” said sports journalist Fernando Czyz. “And they never will.”

Many in Argentina believe the star’s death was inevitable. Maradona had lived his life on the edge for decades. But fans want answers, and they want someone to pay the price for the loss of their hero.

Asked whether justice will prevail, Mariano is pessimistic. “Nobody will go to jail,” he says. “The money will never be found.”