Argentina celebrates return of Maradona's World Cup final shirt

Argentines are celebrating the instrumentality of shot fable Diego Maradona's World Cup last garment to the country.

Thirty-six years aft Argentina bushed Germany successful the 1986 World Cup final, the garment which Maradona wore successful the archetypal fractional has been handed backmost to the Argentine Football Association (AFA).

Former Germany midfielder Lothar Matthäus, who had swapped shirts with Maradona astatine fractional time, donated it to the Argentine people.

The AFA thanked him successful a moving video.

Another Maradona shirt, which the Argentine wore erstwhile helium scored the "Hand of God" extremity against England successful the quarterfinal of the 1986 World Cup, was sold for a grounds 7.1m earlier this year. That garment was enactment up for auction by erstwhile England midfielder Steve Hodge.

But contempt the astronomical sum the "Hand of God" garment fetched, Lothar Matthäus told the Daily Mail helium had ne'er considered cashing his Maradona garment in.

Matthäus presented the jersey to the Argentine radical astatine a ceremonial astatine the Argentine embassy successful Madrid successful August, saying that "Diego is simply a deity successful Argentina, that is wherefore it was peculiar to springiness them the jersey".

The garment went connected show astatine Legends, a depository showcasing humanities shot pieces successful Madrid, earlier being returned to Argentina by collector Marcelo Ordás connected Wednesday.

The AFA marked the juncture with an affectional video successful which it thanked "our person Lothar Matthäus" successful the sanction of each Argentines.

"This is the communicative of a German skipper who had an Argentine skipper arsenic his friend. And similar each friends they exchanged the champion things they had, a hug, a portion of proposal and the unusual shirt," a narrator says arsenic footage of the 2 footballing greats embracing plays.