BUENOS AIRES: Eight people are to stand trial in Buenos Aires over alleged failures in the care of Diego Maradona.

Medical staff are to be tried for “simple homicide with probable intention” in relation to the death of the Argentinian football legend in November 2020.

Prosecutors say it is due to “omissions” by caregivers who abandoned him “to his fate” during home hospitalization.

The charges were laid by a court on the 36th anniversary of Maradona’s two iconic goals against England in the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico City.

The eight under investigation include neurosurgeon Leopold Luque, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and other doctors and nurses who coordinated Maradona’s care.

Prosecutors say mismanagement by the medical team had placed Maradona in a “situation of helplessness.”

The accused face sentences ranging from eight to 25 years in prison. The prosecution claims they were “the protagonists of an unprecedented, totally deficient and reckless hospitalization at home”

No date has been set for the trial.

Maradona died on November 25 last year from a heart attack at the age of 60 in a private home north of Buenos Aires, a few weeks after undergoing brain surgery. His death sparked a national period of mourning.

The former Napoli, Boca Juniors and Barcelona player was initially hospitalised because of a blood clot in his brain. He suffered from serious health problems for many years, including multiple heart attacks, hepatitis and a gastric bypass due to weight issues.

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