“We’re doing great,” Argentine football legend Diego Maradona says of life in Dubai.

The facilities of his club, Al Wasl, are just 25 minutes away from the luxurious palm-shaped artificial island Jumeirah Palm, where he lives at a “royal residence” within the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel.

The hotel annexes known as royal residences are a set of exclusive villas that cost more than $US1300 ($A1223) a night.

Maradona and his family live in one of them, surrounded by a clear blue sea.

And they enjoy Dubai, with its peculiar mix of Miami, Las Vegas, Monte Carlo and Istanbul.

On the horizon, sprinkled with the dust of the frequent sandstorms, one can see the skyline of Dubai Marina, a new hotspot for millionaires which from a distance looks like Manhattan.

Opposite, the huge hotel Atlantis on the Palm, catches the eye. Beyond, six hours by boat across the Gulf, there is Iran.

On this side of the sea, there is Burj al Arab, a sail-shaped building that houses the world’s most expensive hotel, the first one with seven stars.

And topping all skyscrapers rises Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at more than 820 metres, although the dust sometimes hides it.

Maradona can see all this exuberant architecture – which displays the United Arab Emirates’ wealth – as he drives his white Audi Q7 to Al Wasl’s small stadium, complete with an adjacent mosque as befits local custom.

The sand piles up on the sides of Sheik Zayed Road, Dubai’s main artery with six lanes in each direction.

The road is lined with shopping centres and closed, air-conditioned bus stops, a welcome break in summer when temperatures climb to 50 degrees Celsius.

The buzz around Maradona has cooled somewhat, a journalist with the local Gulf News notes.

The hype that started with Maradona’s arrival in May is now almost gone, even though the coach insists that football is a big deal in the Emirates.

“Above all things, there is a love of football. It’s a blessing that people get to enjoy football in such a faraway country,” Maradona told dpa.

However, there were few spectators in Baniyas, some 150 kilometres from Al Wasl’s own stadium, where Maradona’s team beat Al Jazira 4-3 on Friday to qualify for the semi-finals of the Etisalat Cup.

There were just nine reporters at the post-match press conference, and things could have been worse: only three had listened to Al Ahli’s coach Quique Sanchez Flores just two days earlier.

“For the Arab world, having Maradona here is a global reference. It’s like Pele, Cruyff and Di Stefano: whatever he says and however he says it is going to generate interest at all times, it’s always a luxury to have him here,” Sanchez Flores told dpa about the Argentine superstar.

Having Maradona is a luxury, and it’s a show, both during the match and afterwards, when he faces the media with the help of two translators.

He uses stage props, for example someone will call his mobile phone so that everyone in the room can hear the voice on the ringtone of Benjamin, Maradona’s grandson, the son of his daughter Giannina and of Manchester City star striker Sergio Aguero.

The boy is the apple of his grandad’s eye, and a frequent star at press conferences.

Maradona also has some greetings in the direction of the Middle East.

“For me, visiting Palestine is like having Benjamin give me a kiss. The Palestinian people need us all to help it, and I am at Palestine’s disposal. I am Palestine’s number one fan,” he said.

However, many months after his arrival in the region, Maradona has not attracted other great names of football to the desert.

Nobody followed Italian veteran Fabio Cannavaro to the Emirates, where children play cricket rather than football in their midnight matches in car parks.

“I don’t know if we’re perfect but we’re always looking for the rival goal. We try to reach the rival goal by playing good football, and I think that does the whole of Emirates football some good,” Maradona said.

There were seven goals, it’s a beautiful show to see seven goals,” Maradona said on Friday.

However, the clash between two sides with very weak defences was only witnessed by 317 fans in the stands.