Burj Khalifa lights up in towering tribute to football legend Diego Maradona

Images of the footballer in his heyday were projected in Dubai on Saturday

Burj Khalifa pays tribute to Diego Maradona. Courtesy Emaar

Dubai served up a towering tribute to Diego Maradona, lighting up the Burj Khalifa with the late football legend’s image on Friday.

The 1986 World Cup-winning captain died of a heart attack at home on Wednesday in Tigre, Argentina, where he was recovering following recent brain surgery.

Tributes have poured in across the world following his death.

In Dubai, images of the footballer in his heyday were projected on to the world’s tallest tower.

On Friday, Nusret Gökçe, better known by his viral name Salt Bae, also honoured the late Diego Maradona by permanently reserving the football legend's favourite table at his Dubai restaurant.

Maradona, who was named as the greatest player of the 20th century by Fifa, was credited with putting UAE football on the global map after he took charge of local team Al Wasl in 2010.

A member of the team in charge of the club’s PR at the time recently spoke about the day he heard Maradona was joining Al Wasl.

"We had started working on Al Wasl's PR a month before, just basic stuff. Then I got a text message – an SMS because WhatsApp wasn't introduced here in the UAE yet – saying: "Dear Tariq. Please prepare yourself, because you will be announcing the appointment of Diego Maradona as our coach," Tariq Al-Sharabi told The National.

“You just don’t get messages like that. Ever. No meeting to discuss a plan for it. Just a casual text message. I replied to say: “Let’s be serious. What is the actual announcement?”

“I was told Maradona was coming to look at the ground, and that eventually he would be appointed. I could not believe it. I had to keep it hushed, but people started making news about it, so we had to make the announcement sooner.

“Suddenly, I was preparing to manage the biggest press conference I’d ever even been to in my life. That was how it started.”

Maradona's burial