Argy-bargy as Maradona girl cries foul over Hand of God shirt auction
DIeGO Maradona’s infamous hand of God goal has caused a fresh controversy – and this time the Argentinians are crying foul.
They claim the shirt being auctioned as that in which he scored against england in 1986 is the wrong one.
Former england midfielder Steve hodge announced on Wednesday that he was selling the famous blue No 10 jersey, which is expected to fetch up to £6million.
hodge insists he and Maradona swapped shirts in the tunnel straight after the match.
But yesterday Maradona’s family claimed hodge’s shirt is the one the Argentina captain wore in the first half of the World Cup quarter final in Mexico.
he changed into a fresh one at half-time, before he scored his controversial handball goal – and a brilfirst-half liant second – as england were beaten 2-1.
Maradona’s daughter Dalma, 35, told a radio station: ‘That ex-england player [hodge] thinks he’s got my dad’s secondhalf shirt but there’s a confusion. he has the top. The one that’s being auctioned is not the one my dad scored his goals with.’
Sotheby’s said it hired experts who have verified from photographs that the shirt it is auctioning online is the one Maradona wore in the second half when, unseen by match officials, he punched the ball over england goalkeeper Peter Shilton and into the net.
Maradona, who died in 2020, wrote in his book Touched By God that he gave the shirt to hodge.
A Sotheby’s spokesman said: ‘It’s been in the National Football Museum for 20 years. There has never been a claim that it’s not the shirt.’
‘Hodge has the first-half top’