Combating COVID-19: Maradona autographs shirt to help poor district of Buenos Aires

Football legend Diego Maradona has autographed the replica of his Argentine jersey he wore during the 1986 World Cup final to raise money for an underprivileged community in Buenos Aires.

The Argentine World Cup-winning hero autographed the replica jersey and wrote "we are going to get through it" on the shirt to motivate the country in the fight against coronavirus, CNN reported.

The jersey is now being raffled to raise money for a working-class neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.

The raffle has been restricted to those who have given donations towards an initiative that has so far managed to collect hygiene products and masks for charity.

"Diego can't even imagine what he has done for us, it's priceless. I'll be grateful to him until the day I die," CNN quoted local resident Marta Gutierrez as saying.

In his initial playing days, Maradona spent time in Buenos Aires as he represented Argentine Juniors.

Maradona was at his best during the 1986 FIFA World Cup as he guided Argentina to the title win after defeating Germany 3-2 in the finals.

Currently, all sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 4 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded worldwide, including at least 279,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Orgsation had termed COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11.

( With inputs from ANI )