Diego Maradona's final words before death emerge

Football legend Diego Maradona's last words before he died were: "I don't feel well."

Maradona suffered a fatal heart attack on Wednesday (local time), two weeks after he had surgery to treat a brain bleed.

The 60-year-old legend ate breakfast in the morning at his home in Tigre, Buenos Aires, then spoke to his nephew Johnny Esposito, telling him he didn't feel well - "me siento mal" in his native Spanish - and was going to lie down again.

Diego Armando Maradona looks on in his role as head coach of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata ahead of a March 7 match this year between them and Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo / Getty Images

Maradona was home from the hospital and had a nurse looking after him, who called emergency services.

Sadly, the football legend had died by the time help arrived. Emergency responders tried to revive him but it was too late.

An autopsy is now expected to confirm that the cause of death was the heart attack.

He reportedly died around midday, local time.

In Argentina, President Alberto Fernandez has already declared three days of national mourning in honour of the football legend.

What Maradona wanted engraved on his tombstone

While still alive, Maradona expressed what he wanted to have engraved on his tombstone.

In a bizarre TV interview which aired 15 years ago, during which Maradona quizzed himself, he said that getting old with his grandchildren would mean "a peaceful death" for him.

"Thanks for having played football because it's the sport that gave me most happiness and freedom and it's like having touched the sky with my hand," Maradona said.

"Thanks to the ball. Yes, I would put on the tombstone ...'Thanks to the ball.'"