The Tres Leones goalkeeper and an Argentine icon never met to make amends after an infamous incident at the 1986 World Cup final in Mexico.
Peter Shilton was “saddened” to learn of Diego Maradona’s death, but remains upset about Argentine legend ‘Mano de Dios” goal against England at the 1986 World Cup.
At age 60, Maradona passed away on Wednesday, leaving Argentina and the soccer world in shock.
Poor health and drug addiction had plagued former Barcelona star Boca Juniors and Napoli after his playing days, and he recently underwent surgery for a blood clot in his brain.
The tributes have been paid by players such as Pelé, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Shilton has more reason than most to dislike Maradona, who punched the ball for Argentina’s first goal in their 2-1 quarter-final victory over England 34 years ago.
Shilton told the Daily mail : “It’s bothered me over the years. I’m not going to lie about it now. People say I should have cleared the ball anyway and let a smaller man jump me. That’s silly. He had the race on me but that can happen.
“I wouldn’t have hit him if I’d known he could head, right? Of course not. So I’m fine with all of that.
“No, what I don’t like is that he never apologized. He never at any time said that he had cheated and that he would like to apologize. Instead, he used his ‘Hand of God’ line. That was not correct.
“It seems like he had greatness in him, but sadly he had no sportsmanship.”
Shilton tweeted on Thursday to describe Maradona as “the best footballer I ever played against without hesitation,” but told the Daily Mail that attempts to match him with Maradona over the years had failed as no guarantees had been given. that the little teacher intended. to apologize.
And while England’s striker in that 1986 game, Gary Lineker, has spoken fondly of Maradona, Shilton suspects that many on the team that lost that day at the Estadio Azteca share his grievances.
He added: “Most of the England team that played in Mexico feel like me to this day.
“It wasn’t just me who was duped, it was the whole team. We had a chance of reaching the quarterfinals and maybe the World Cup final. How often does this happen?
“I was lucky. My opportunity came again four years later, but others were not so lucky.”
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