Maradona sends heartfelt message to former coach Menotti

BUENOS AIRES - Diego Maradona has praised the appointment of Argentina's 1978 World Cup winning manager Cesar Luis Menotti as the country's national teams director.

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) this week announced that the 80-year-old would coordinate the national youth and senior teams while overseeing a plan to find a new "football identity".

"It gives me great pleasure to know that 'El Flaco' Menotti is (in this job)," Maradona said in a social media post on Thursday.

The text was accompanied by an iconic image of the pair talking during Maradona's early years with Argentina's national team under Menotti's stewardship.

"(AFA president Claudio) Tapia finally realized," Maradona continued. "All I'm asking is that Menotti still has the strength to lead Argentine football, because he knows how to do it.

"If 'El Flaco' is strong, Argentine football is going to be strong too. Forty-five years ago he changed the course of (football in the country). He made us run faster than the Germans and use the ball like the Brazilians.

"Flaco, I love you with my soul and I wish you the best," added Maradona, whose performances on the pitch led Argentina to glory at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Argentina have not won a major international trophy since their 1993 Copa America triumph.

Menotti was Argentina's head coach from 1974 to 1982 and also had spells in charge of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Mexico in a 37-year managerial career that ended in 2010.

Maradona's comments came just days after he was released from a Buenos Aires hospital, where he underwent surgery for stomach bleeding.

The 58-year-old is expected to travel to Mexico within days to resume his work as head coach of Dorados de Sinaloa.