Maradona heads to Scotland for first match

New Argentina coach Diego Maradona set off on Saturday for his first match in charge, a midweek friendly against Scotland in Glasgow.

Maradona left accompanied by officials from the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) whose chairman, Julio Grondona, has been holding out against Maradona's wish to appoint 1986 World Cup-winning teammate Oscar Ruggeri as his assistant.

The Argentine delegation were due to head first for Madrid before taking a flight Sunday to Glasgow, the AFA said in a statement.

The team will train at Celtic's ground prior to the Wednesday friendly at Hampden.

Maradona scored on his international debut in a 3-1 win in Glasgow in 1979 and now embarks on a new era following his surprise appointment two weeks ago.

But he has already had to forego calling up Boca Juniors striker Juan Roman Riquelme as his club's title campaign is coming to the boil.

Another absentee is Barcelona's Lionel Messi following an agreement brokered between the Argentinian Football Federation and the Spanish giants to allow the striker to miss the Scotland game and also a February 11 friendly against France.

But the squad does include several faces from the English Premiership, including Manchester United star Carlos Tevez, Liverpool's Javier Mascherano and Newcastle pair Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez.

Maradona spent much of the week embroiled in a power struggle with Grondona, who has turned down his choice of Ruggeri as assistant coach.

“I don't want Ruggeri showing his face round here,” Argentine media reported Grondona as saying amid reports – denied by the world champion and former skipper — that Maradona could resign if he cannot have his former team mate alongside him.

General manager Carlos Bilardo, who had Maradona and Ruggeri as pillars of his 1986 world champions and 1990 runners-up, insisted that the affair could be smoothed over and said he thought Maradona would stay put despite the apparent snub to his authority.