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Jinx this: Diego Maradona swears on TV after Argentine FA boss says he is bad luck for the team

Video: The legendary Argentinian footballer directed a middle finger at Julio Grondona on live television, after the head of the Argentinian Football Association said Maradona was a jinx for the national team

Kiran Moodley
Tuesday 24 June 2014 11:04 BST
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Former World Cup winner Diego Maradona gave the Argentina Football Association President a very visual response after he suggested the star was bad luck for the national team.
Former World Cup winner Diego Maradona gave the Argentina Football Association President a very visual response after he suggested the star was bad luck for the national team.

There has never been much love between World Cup winner Diego Maradona and Julio Grondona, the president of the Argentina Football Association (AFA) since 1979.

Maradona labelled Grondona a liar following the former's acrimonious departure as head of the Argentinian team in 2010 after the unsuccessful World Cup campaign in South Africa.

Four years later and the animosity between the pair continues. Grondona accused the former manager of being a jinx on the national side, citing the fact that Lionel Messi only netted the winning goal against Iran on Saturday after Maradona had left the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte.

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Maradona left the Argentina versus Iran match early, evidently frustrated at seeing one of the strongest World Cup teams struggle to overcome a resolute Iranian team. It was only until he had left the stadium that Messi scored and secured Argentina's progression into the last 16.

Responding to Grondon's claim, Maradona said it was Messi’s own effort that ensured the team's victory and not because he had left the stadium. He then looked into the camera and brandished his middle finger, saying, "Jinx this".

At Argentina's first World Cup match in Brazil against Bosnia last weekend, Maradona claimed that Fifa officials turned him away from the Maracana.

“I was not allowed to go in to the game,” he told the Argentinian channel TyC Sports. “So I had to return to the hotel to see the second half. I did everything I could but they would not let us in."

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