World NewsMaradona Taunts Butcher Again |
DIEGO Maradona mocked old foe Terry Butcher after a Maxi Rodriguez goal gave Argentina victory over Scotland at Hampden in his first match in charge of the South Americans.
The Scotland assistant manager - who played for England when Maradona scored his 'Hand of God' goal in the infamous 1986 World Cup quarter-final victory in Mexico - insisted he was still feeling so sore about the incident he would not shake Maradona's hand after their challenge match at the national stadium.While Maradona fretted about the health of his youngest daughter Giannina, who had suffered a pregnancy scare which had led to her fiance, Sergio Aguero, quitting the Argentina camp to return to Spain, Maxi slid the ball past Scotland keeper Allan McGregor with only eight minutes gone to set up a comfortable win.
Butcher was nowhere to be seen when the final whistle sounded but afterwards at the press conference, when asked if had shaken the former England captain's hand, Maradona retorted: "Who is he? Who is Butcher?
"I greeted the Scotland manager after the game. Who is Butcher?"
Then bursting into a wide smile, Maradona said: "Since the bad news I've had about my daughter, it's the first time I've managed to laugh.
"I've been thinking of my daughter and her baby and the lads made things easy for me during a difficult time.
"She was happy for me to be here leading the Argentina side. The players wore the shirt with pride and made me proud.
"It was a great experience and I was relaxed throughout.
"It was a clear victory for us. We were brilliant for the first 25 minutes and scored a goal but we couldn't convert our half chances.
"We gave the ball away too easily but even then Scotland couldn't capitalise so we deserved our victory."
Scotland manager George Burley claimed the match would put his side in fine fettle for the crucial World Cup qualifier against Holland in Amsterdam next March.
"It was definitely a worthwhile exercise and a great workout for our players," said Burley.
"We were playing against one of the best teams in the world and Holland are also a top-10 team.
"It will be a tough game over there but there were lots of bonuses and pluses.
"After the first 20 minutes, which they dominated, we held our own.
"It was good for our players to play against Carlos Tevez and other top names just as it was good for me when I played against Diego here in 1979.
"We had Barry Ferguson and Alan Hutton back and Allan McGregor did well but I thought our best player was Kris Commons, it was good to see him take players on.
"So we will go in to the Holland game in a good mood."
Copyright (c) 2009 Press Association
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