Maradona shrugs off Butcher snub

Diego Maradona insists he will not lose any sleep if Scotland assistant boss Terry Butcher refuses to shake his hand in tomorrow night's friendly against Argentina.

Former England captain Butcher said yesterday he will never forgive Maradona for the 'Hand of God' goal which helped knock his country out of the 1986 World Cup.

But speaking at a media conference in Glasgow ahead of his first match in charge of Argentina at Hampden Park tomorrow, Maradona said: "I don't know why Butcher is taking this attitude.

"If people are fine with me, I'll greet them.

"Let Butcher get on with his life and I'll get on with my life.

"I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If Butcher doesn't shake my hand, I'll still be alive tomorrow."

Butcher is one of the few in Scotland who does not idolise Maradona for that goal and the 48-year-old, who scored his first international goal at Hampden 29 years ago, hopes to make the Tartan Army happy again tomorrow.

"I am very much aware of apparently how popular I am and it's great to think I've made them very happy," said Maradona.

"If I get the chance to make them happy again, that would be marvellous."

He added: "I feel great. I feel very good. I'm very happy to be back in Scotland after so long away.

"It's a very, very proud moment for me to be heading up the Argentina national side."

On returning to the scene of his first international goal, he said: "It's something that was very special to me. It was nice to start my international career and get my first goal here.

"What I want to do in terms of repaying them is hopefully put on a good spectacle tomorrow night."