Emotional fans have confronted police as thousands lined up to farewell Diego Maradona at the Argentine presidential mansion staging the funeral of one of football’s greatest stars.

Fans threw bottles and metal fences at police near the Casa Rosada, in the heart of Buenos Aires.

Open visitation started at 6:15am on Thursday local time after a few hours of privacy for family and close friends.

Maradona’s wooden casket was in the main lobby of the presidential office, covered in an Argentine flag and a Number 10 shirt of the national team.

Dozens of other shirts of different football teams were thrown in by visitors who passed by in tears.

Maradona died of a heart attack in a house outside Buenos Aires, where he recovered from a brain operation on November 3.