The legendary t-shirt Diego Maradona, which will go up for auction on April 20, is not the one worn by the footballer when he scored both goals against England in the World Cup Mexico-1986, but the one he wore in the first half of the match, one of the daughters affirmed.
“It’s not that one. I don’t want to say who has it because it’s crazy. This man doesn’t have it. I didn’t confirm it, he (Maradona) said it. He told me: ‘How am I going to give him the shirt of my life? ‘” Dalma Maradona told the press on Wednesday night.
controversy grows
Former England footballer Steve Hodge, has declared himself the owner of the jacket for 35 years after he exchanged his with Diego Maradona at the end of the legendary match in which Argentina won 2-1 with goals from
Maradona who made history.
“This former player thinks he has my dad’s second-half shirt, but it’s a confusion, he has the first. We wanted to clarify that so that people who want to buy it know the truth,” Dalma Maradona told channel 13 television.
The blue jersey with the number 10 on the back will be put up for auction by Sotheby’s. It is expected to get more than five million dollars for it. The jacket is considered one of the most emblematic of football, since Maradona used it in the game in which he scored the so-called “hand of God” goal and that other extraordinary one that left five rivals on the road and was considered the “goal of the century”.
Asked about the fate of the supposed original shirt with which he scored those goals, Maradona’s daughter preferred to keep her identity safe. “My mother does not have it. I am not going to say who has it so as not to expose that person. We can only confirm that she is not the one they are auctioning,” she assured.
Sotheby’s refutes
Dalma Maradona’s statements were refuted by the auction house. “Indeed there was another shirt that Maradona wore in the first half, but there are very clear differences from the one he wore when he scored the two goals,” a Sotheby’s spokesman told AFP.
“Before putting the shirt up for auction, we did a scientific investigation to be sure that it is indeed the one he wore in the second half, when he scored the goals,” he added.
Sotheby’s supports its statements in the work carried out by a specialized company, on photographs of that match, and also in the narration about that World Cup that is collected in a book written by the journalist Daniel Arcucci together with Maradona and in which the former captain of the albiceleste “remembers giving the shirt to Hodge at the end of the match”.
Steve Hodge has said for 35 years that he exchanged a jersey with Maradona at the end of the game and for the last 18 years it has been on display at the National Football Museum in England.
“Nobody until now had said that this is not the correct shirt,” said the Sotheby’s spokesman. Maradona died in Buenos Aires on November 25, 2020 at the age of 60 from a cardiorespiratory crisis.
AFP
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