Associated Press:

Diego Maradona, four days after being hospitalized for abdominal pains, showed signs of improvement though doctors said some unspecified lab tests came back outside “normal” limits.

A brief statement issued by the Los Arcos Sanatorium where Maradona was taken on Friday said “the tendency is toward recovery” but did not specify what lab tests were conducted or just what was ailing the soccer hero.

The statement was the first since a medical bulletin on Saturday indicated the former World Cup captain was in stable condition at the private clinic in downtown Buenos Aires.

Maradona, who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup and is considered one of the all-time greats of the sport, was hospitalized on Friday — only two days after he was released following a two-week stay at another private clinic.

Maradona spent March 28-April 11 at the private Guemes Sanatorium where he was treated for acute hepatitis, an inflammation brought about by alcohol abuse, doctors said. At the time, his private physician, Alfredo Cahe, said Maradona was suffering the effects of too much drinking, excessive eating and smoking.

Although Los Arcos has not yet commented on the underlying condition, prominent Argentine daily La Nacion quoted Cahe as saying the former athlete suffered a complication from his hepatitis.