Puskas Alzheimers claim denied

Ferenc Puskas (r) with the late Billy Wright in 1993

The wife of Hungarian football legend Ferenc Puskas has denied a tabloid report that her husband is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

The Hungarian newspaper Blikk made the claim on Tuesday under the headline "Is Puskas suffering from Alzheimer's disease?"

It also claimed that 74-year-old Puskas had been in hospital since September.

But Erzsi Puskas said: "This is outrageous. I have talked to my lawyer but he said I cannot do anything because there is a question mark at the end of the headline. They have not even called me.

Mrs Puskas said her husband had been in hospital under suspicion of arteriosclerosis and was "fine".

Famous career

Doctors have refused to release information on the medical condition of the former Real Madrid left-winger.

Puskas was centre-forward in the famous Hungarian side that beat England 6-3 in 1954.

He left Hungary during the 1956 anti-Soviet revolution, joining Spanish giants Real Madrid, but returned to his homeland in the 1990s.

As a coach, Puskas led Greek team Panathinaikos to the European Cup final in 1971, where they lost to Ajax 2-0 at Wembley.

Puskas turns 75 on 2 April 2002 and there are plans for the Spanish national team to play a friendly against Hungary in Budapest to mark his birthday.