Diego Maradona was buried Thursday in a private ceremony attended by only two dozen people - a stark contrast to earlier in the day when tens of thousands of weeping fans filed past his coffin for hours in an observance that mixed head-of-state-like honours with the chaos of a rowdy stadium.
Only family members and close friends were permitted at Jardin Bella Vista cemetery for the final religious ceremony and burial of Maradona next to the graves of his parents, Dalma and Diego.
Fans waving Argentina flags had gathered along roads as Maradona's funeral car drove by under heavy security. Many tried to touch the vehicle whenever it was stopped by traffic.
The earlier viewing at the Argentinian presidential mansion was halted shortly before 6pm, 12 hours after it started, as Maradona's family wished and the body of the Argentinian icon was taken away for burial, frustrating many who were waiting to pay their respects and causing new tensions at the gates of the cemetery.
Fans, some draped in the national flag, sang soccer anthems as they formed a line that stretched more than 20 blocks from the Plaza de Mayo, where Argentinians gathered to celebrate the Maradona-led triumph in the 1986 World Cup.
