Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton has aimed a dig at Diego Maradona following the death of the football legend.
The former Napoli and Argentina star sadly died yesterday at the age of 60, and Shilton paid tribute to him in a column in the Daily Mail.
The former ‘keeper, however, still clearly has issues with Maradona following his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal against him in that World Cup clash in 1986.
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Maradona notably used his hand to beat Shilton to the ball and score in that game, though he also scored perhaps the greatest goal of all time in that same match.
Some will argue that game sums Maradona up with his quality and his controversy, and Shilton couldn’t help but bring up what he feels was a lack of sportsmanship from the late forward.
He says he takes issue with Maradona for cheating in that game and for never seeming prepared to apologise to him for the incident.
“My life has long been linked with that of Diego Maradona — and not in the way I would have liked,” Shilton said. “But I am saddened to hear of his passing at such a young age. He was undoubtedly the greatest player I ever faced and my thoughts are with his family.”
The best.
RIP. pic.twitter.com/uQdHZXJAer
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) November 26, 2020
He added: “He challenged me for a high, looping ball, but knew he wouldn’t get it with his head, so he punched it into the net. A clear offence. Cheating.
“It has bothered me over the years. I won’t lie about that now. People say I should have cleared the ball anyway and that I let a smaller man outjump me. That’s rubbish. He had the run on me but that can happen.
“He wouldn’t have punched it if he knew he could head it, would he? Of course not. So I am OK with all that.
“No, what I don’t like is that he never apologised. Never at any stage did he say he had cheated and that he would like to say sorry. Instead, he used his ‘Hand of God’ line. That wasn’t right.
“It seems he had greatness in him but sadly no sportsmanship.
“Over the years, there were a few attempts to get the two of us together in the same room.
“My approach to that was always the same — that I would be happy to do it if I thought he was going to apologise. I would have shaken his hand. But I was never given any indication that was likely to happen.”