Former Argentina Manager Alejandro Sabella in Intensive Care

Former Argentina manager Alejandro Sabella has been placed in intensive care, just a day after the footballing world mourned the death of Diego Maradona.

Sabella led La Albiceleste for three years between 2011 and 2014, guiding them to the World Cup final in 2014 before resigning after the tournament.

The 66-year-old hasn't held a managerial post since.

And as Argentina mourns the loss of an icon, there's further bad news with TyC Sports reporting that Sabella was hospitalised ‘urgently’ on Wednesday night before being taken to the Cardiovascular Institute of Buenos Aires.

Sabella has a history with heart problems, although the report wasn't clear on exactly what his latest health scare is.

The 66-year-old's work as Estudiantes and Argentina manager has seen him celebrated in his homeland, while he's remembered in the UK for stints as a player at both Sheffield United and Leeds.

Sabella joined the Blades in 1978 after the Yorkshire club decided against signing Argentinos Juniors starlet Maradona, who was just 18, due to expenses - seriously - and would appear 80 times for them before making the switch to Leeds in 1980.

His time at Elland Road didn’t last long, however, as at the end of 1981, he was looking to return to Argentina, and moved to Estudiantes, for whom he became a legend as a player and manager - lifting the Copa Libertadores as the latter in 2009.

Sabella's managerial career has been short to date, culminating in that extra-time defeat to the Germans in Brazil in 2014. Having resigned from the Estudiantes hot seat in early 2011, Sabella took the Argentina job later that year following the nation's early exit from that year's Copa Libertadores.

He made Lionel Messi captain and lost just five of his 40 games in charge. He announced before the World Cup final defeat that he would resign regardless of the result after three years in charge.