“This important relic will have a perfect place in this museum. Diego Maradona has not only been a great football legend, a friendship grew between us. He was unique, there is no doubt, in the whole world, Diego recognized as a legend and that’s why it fills me with pride to be here today”said Matthaus at the delivery ceremony held at the headquarters of the diplomatic representation of Argentina
The former German player, who participated in five World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998), confessed that “It has always been a great honor to play against Diego because, quite simply, he was the best, not only as a player but also as a human being”.
“He has been a very important person for me. It is a pity that he is not here today, but Diego will always be present in our hearts and now also in the museum”he continued.
Matthaus explained: “As friends we always used to exchange shirts, and in that game I didn’t have much time in the break, we just changed the shirts and we’ll talk later”.
After acknowledging that “that day Argentina won in a very deserved way, not only because of Diego but because the whole team was very strong”, the German soccer legend recalled that “later there was no time to talk much because he was celebrating and I was with my team”.
For his part, the Argentine Marcelo Ordaspresident Legends, confessed: “Today is a day of great happiness, joy and gratitude. The battles for cultural heritage are the epic of a society that fights to preserve its culture, identity, values and history; and that is what we are doing here”.
“Today we are united by the story of two legends. One, present here as (Lothar) Matthaus, and another who is present in our hearts, which is Diego Armando Maradona”he continued.
Ordás also recognized the gesture of the former German captain, whom he described as “a man who loves football” for having allowed the shirt with which Maradona became world champion to return to Argentina, after passing through the Madrid exhibition .
The collector recalled what the process was like to end up convincing Matthaus to donate Maradona’s shirt and confessed that “at first it was frustrating, but then exciting”.
“It was the typical German response ‘thank you, I’m not interested, we’ll talk another day’. Then he saw what happened in London and highlighted what it was like to be the Argentine who fought for the national heritage in England”he recounted.
In London, Legends was seconds away from being able to stay at auction with the shirt that the Argentine star wore in the quarterfinals against England in that same World Cup, when ‘the hand of God’ was born. “Later, we met up with Lothar in Berlin, and when he gave us the final ok, it seemed to me that the possibility of sharing it with everyone was very important, but I also met a person who loves football like few others,” he said.
The Argentine ambassador to Spain, Ricardo Alfonsín, said in his turn: “I simply have to thank them for allowing us to participate in this event and to Matthaus for selflessly donating Maradona’s shirt, his gesture speaks of his sportsmanship and his love for football. It is a great joy for everyone to have this shirt”.
While, Claudio Tapiapresident of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), could not be present and sent a video: “I want to thank you, Marcelo, for this enormous gesture of obtaining Maradona’s armor, which means so much to Argentina. Lotthar, thank you for the gesture of having donated this shirt”said
Finally, the executive general director of LaLiga dLe Spain, Óscar Mayo, highlighted the importance of this shirt for “what Maradona means for world football and what it has meant for football and for Argentina”.
“I experienced Marcelo’s frustration in London firsthand, we were seconds away from obtaining that relic, but shortly after we are here. We, LaLiga, just a year ago, in August, were told about the Legends project and We did not hesitate for a second to do whatever it took to accompany Marcelo on this path, to learn about the experience and help him in his international career”he highlighted.
Source: Ambito
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