Maradona's doctors say he's doing well in hospital

Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona is making good progress in a Buenos Aires hospital where he is being treated for alcohol-induced hepatitis caused by two or three months of heavy drinking, doctors said on Tuesday.

Maradona, 46, who is widely revered as one of the game's greatest players, has struggled with cocaine addiction and obesity since he retired in 1997. In his latest health crisis, he was admitted to hospital six days ago for alcohol abuse.

"He's doing very well from a clinical viewpoint," Hector Pezzella, medical director at the private Guemes clinic, told a news conference.

Maradona's personal doctor, Alfredo Cahe, said on Monday the former Argentine captain had alcoholic hepatitis and that he expected him to remain in hospital for another two weeks.

"The situation that caused him to be hospitalized

is a situation of intoxication that, according to doctor Cahe, was brought on by excessive alcohol consumption for two or three months," Pezzella said, adding that Maradona remained under sedation to help curb alcohol cravings.

Maradona -- who together with Pele were named by soccer's governing body, FIFA, as the two greatest players of the 20th century -- had appeared overweight and smoking cigars in photographs taken soon before he was taken to hospital last week.

Maradona was hospitalized in 2000 and 2004, both times with severe heart problems stemming from cocaine use.

He underwent drug rehabilitation in Cuba and Argentina before a stomach-stapling operation in 2005 helped him lose weight.

Later that year, he went on to host his own TV talk show after declaring himself fully recovered.