Diego Maradona’s sisters Ana and Claudia testified on Thursday about the football star’s final days and the strained relationship they have with his two oldest daughters.

“I don’t have a relationship with [Maradona’s daughters] Dalma and Giannina,” said Ana, aged 74. “We used to have a good relationship, but now they’ve distanced themselves.”

She added that things between them changed after the star’s subdural hematoma removal on November 2, 2020. That was also the last time she saw her brother alive.

“Dalma, Gianinna, Jana, my sisters Claudia and Rita, [Leopoldo] Luque, [Agustina] Cosachov, and the medical staff were all there,” she told the judges. It was there that the star’s two oldest daughters took over control of his care and sidelined their aunts.

“They were the ones who gave me the news when he died,” Ana explained.

She recalled asking her brother if anything was hurting when she visited him at the hospital, and he replied, “Yes, my soul.” According to her, all four sisters had a good relationship with Maradona until his death.

Ana also vouched for Maradona’s main medical advisor, Leopoldo Luque.

“Whenever I went to visit my brother, he was always there,” she said. “He’d always check on him. My brother allowed Luque to attend to him.”

Maradona’s youngest sister, Claudia, also took the stand on Thursday. She insisted Luque was the family’s trusted physician, adding she didn’t have a “good or bad” opinion of him.

Claudia also clarified the role of Maradona’s nephew Jonathan — the last person to see him alive — in the home care.

“He was Diego’s go-to guy,” she said. “He’d give him his pills and keep him company. Whenever Diego didn’t want to take his medication, Jonathan would talk him into it.” 

Claudia, however, said she could not be sure that this was happening in the days leading up to his death. 

“I don’t know who gave him his medication in the last days,” she said.

Claudia was also questioned on the matter of Maradona’s brand, which she and her sisters inherited. She and Rita, alongside Maradona’s lawyer Matías Morla and others, stand accused of fraud by the former star’s sons and daughters in a parallel procedure. The heirs claim Maradona was incapacitated when he signed the contract that relinquished control of his trademark.

“My brother left the brand to us,” she said. “Before he died, Diego used to give us gifts. When he was alive he didn’t have any contracts signed with us; when he died he left us his brand.”