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Shilton, 71, said in an interview with the Daily Mail that he was upset that the Argentine soccer legend had never apologized for the first of his two goals in the 2-1 victory in Mexico.
Maradona, whom Shilton described as “The best player I have ever faced”, scored twice more in the semi-final victory against Belgium and lifted the World Cup after Argentina defeated West Germany in the final.
“What I don’t like is that he never apologized,” Shilton said. “At no time did he say that he had cheated and that he would like to apologize,” he added.
“Instead, he used his phrase of ‘the hand of God’ and that was not right,” he said. “It seems that he had greatness, but unfortunately not sportsmanship,” Shilton said in the interview, quoted by the AFP agency.
Selected 125 times, Shilton, who won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest, added: “My life has long been linked to that of Diego Maradona, and not in the way that I would have liked ”.
“But it saddens me to hear that he died so young,” he said. “He was without a doubt the best player I have faced and my thoughts are with his family”
Shilton says Maradona had a special talent
Shilton claims that the England team were still knocked out by Maradona’s “trap” when the Argentine star scored his sublime second goal: “It was a great goal, but we had no doubts, without the first goal I would not have scored the second.”
Shilton, who reached the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup, where England lost to Germany on penalties, also claimed to have had the opportunity to appear alongside Maradona on several occasions.
“My position was always the same, which I would gladly do if I thought he was going to apologize,” she said. If so, “I would have shook his hand. But they never gave me any indication that that was going to happen. “
“Once they asked me to go to a television show with him in Argentina. But again it didn’t seem right to me ”, he relates. “I felt like it was all going to be a trick, so I stayed away and I think I made the right decision.”
The English exporter says he hopes that the notorious goal does not overshadow the Argentine’s amazing ability: “I hope it does not stain Maradona’s legacy.”
“As I said, he was a great player (…) up there with people like Pelé,” he stressed. “He had a special talent and it is hard to believe that he passed away when he was only 60 years old.”
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