Maradona wants tattoo of Chavez

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona wants to add an image of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to his well-known collection of tattoos of leftist leaders.

"I'd like to get some sort of Chavez tattoo, really," Maradona told reporters on Wednesday ahead of a celebrity indoor soccer match.

Maradona has a tattoo of Argentine-born revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara on his right shoulder and another of Cuban leader Fidel Castro on his left leg.

Maradona, considered by many the best soccer player of all time, lived several years in Cuba while recovering from drug addiction. There he made friends with Castro, who is a close ally of Chavez.

Chavez has made socialist reforms in Venezuela and using his oil wealth has spread his leftist influence in Latin America.

(Reporting by Damian Wroclavsky; Translated by Fiona Ortiz, editing by Cynthia Osterman)