Huge crowds of fans have gathered at Argentina’s presidential palace, as they seek to pay their final respects to football legend Diego Maradona.

Three days of national mourning have begun after the national hero died of a heart attack on Wednesday aged 60.

Many people wept, blew kisses or said prayers as they filed past the footballer’s coffin.

But there were tense scenes outside as police pushed back large numbers of people still queuing to get in.

Maradona’s coffin – draped in Argentina’s national flag and football shirt, bearing his trademark number 10 on the back – was expected to be on public display until Thursday afternoon ahead of a procession through the streets of Buenos Aires.

But by mid-afternoon queues stretched back for more than a kilometre, and police clashed with mourners as they tried to close off the palace in anticipation of the wake.

There were reports of tear gas being used as officers in riot gear struggled to hold back the crowd.

Later the authorities extended access to the casket for a few more hours. After that the motorised funeral cortege is due to set out for the Bella Vista cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

Maradona’s family and former teammates took part in a private ceremony earlier in the day.

One of the greatest football players of all time, Maradona had a troubled personal life marked by cocaine and alcohol addiction. He had successful surgery on a brain blood clot earlier in November and was to be treated for alcohol dependency.

Local media said the preliminary results of an autopsy showed Maradona had suffered “acute heart failure”. A spokesman told AFP news agency he would be laid to rest in a cemetery on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where his parents were also buried.

The former Argentina attacking midfielder and manager died at his home in Tigre, near Buenos Aires. The last person to see Maradona alive was his nephew Johnny Esposito, according to statements gathered by officials.

Maradona is survived by five children and his former wife, 58-year-old Claudia Villafane, who he split with in 2004 after 20 years of marriage.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.6/iframe.htmlmedia captionWatch all of Maradona’s World Cup goals

Maradona, who played for clubs including Barcelona and Napoli, was captain when Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, scoring the famous “Hand of God” goal against England in the quarter-finals.

To score the goal, Maradona used his hand to deflect the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, but the referee did not see it. It was one of the most controversial World Cup moments ever.

Former Tottenham midfielder Ossie Ardiles, who played alongside Maradona at the 1982 World Cup, said he was “a god” in Argentina, in Naples and all around the world.

Fans mourn ‘eternal’ giant

The death has triggered an outpouring of grief in Argentina and across the world. At 22:00 on Wednesday (01:00 GMT) – an hour chosen to match the number on his shirt – stadiums across Argentina switched on their floodlights to honour his memory.

Fans flocked to La Bombonera, Boca Juniors’ stadium in Buenos Aires, where many were in tears. One fan of the star’s former club had tears in his eyes as he explained how much Maradona meant to him.

“Maradona for me is the greatest thing that happened to me in life. I love him as much as my father and it’s like my old man died,” Cristian Montelli, 22, told Reuters news agency.

“If I die young, hopefully upstairs I can play ball and watch a Boca game with him.”