BUENOS AIRES, April 21 — Hugo Orlando Gatti, a legendary Argentine goalkeeper and former star of the national team, died yesterday at the age of 80, the South American Football Confederation said.

Gatti was hospitalised two months ago for a broken hip but developed pneumonia, kidney and heart trouble and in the end was sedated as his health faded.

News reports said his family on Sunday decided to take him off life support.

Gatti — whose nickname was ‘El Loco,’ or the mad man — held the record for most number of games played in Argentina’s top football division, with 765. He played from 1962 to 1988.

At age 44 he was still in the starting lineup for regional footballing giants Boca Juniors.

Gatti was famously extroverted and one of the first goalkeepers to make a habit of coming out of the six-yard box into the larger area in front of him.

Gatti was outspoken and once called the football legend Diego Maradona "gordito,” or chubby. Days later Maradona exacted revenge by scoring four goals against him.

Gatti was on the Boca Juniors team that won the Copa Libertadores in 1977.

He was supposed to be the starting goalie for the Argentine national team that went on to win the World Cup in 1978 but a knee injury months before the tournament sidelined him. — AFP