Argentina’s soccer followers rejoiced as one in every of nationwide hero Diego Maradona’s iconic jerseys was ‘returned’ on Thursday.
At a ceremony in Madrid’s Argentinian embassy, former Germany captain, Lothar Matthäus, unveiled the symbolic quantity 10 shirt worn by Maradona through the 1986 World Cup last.
The footballer admitted that parting with the shirt was a tough choice for him.
”It was arduous for me to present this shirt again as a result of it is such a terrific memento,” he stated. “However in the long run, I knew that this wonderful relic of the historical past of world soccer … belonged right here in Madrid.”
Matthäus exchanged the shirt with Maradona at halftime through the World Cup last match and stored it ever since. The ultimate was intense and carefully fought, with Argentia rising victorious 3-2.
Requires the shirt to be ‘repatriated’ have grown louder and extra insistent over the past 36 years.
The shirt will go on show on the soccer museum ‘Legends’ within the Spanish capital Madrid.
It was not the one shirt that Matthäus exchanged with the Argentinian legend. Within the 1990 World Cup last, each gamers handed over their jerseys after Germany beat Argentina 1-0.
That shirt stays in a museum in Germany.
Earlier in Could, one other shirt worn by Maradonna through the England-Argentina quarter-finals of Mexico ’86, which went down in historical past for his ‘hand of god’ objective, fetched over 9 million euros at public sale.
This last worth made the shirt the costliest match-worn sports activities shirt in historical past.
