THERE was a moment when Adam Brown finally realised it had been no ordinary night under the lights at Parkhead. 

It wasn't when a football legend hoisted him into the air in delight after the teenager had come to his rescue, nor was it when he later whispered into his dad's ear just what had happened. 

For 13-year-old starstruck Brown, it was only when his jealous school-mates looked in awe at pictures of the Celtic youngster in the arms of Diego Maradona the madness of it all hit home. 

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The Alloa Athletic star was hailed a hero by the then Argentina boss, who is widely regarded as one of the finest players of all-time, when he found a precious medallion belonging to Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Gago. 

Cue a 24 hour whirlwind of media attention and envious looks from football mad friends at Abronhill High, in Cumbernauld, as Brown briefly become the talk of the town. 

Now, he has swapped hugs from the World Cup winner for the embrace of Wee County's latest crop of footballing stars. But, he still can't quite believe that day in Glasgow. 

"I was 13 or so and at Celtic and they had a conference day," Brown, now 24, told Advertiser Sport. "Our parents were invited along and we turned up and our age group got dragged to the side.

"We were told our age group was going to be ball boys for Argentina, who were training at Celtic ahead of a friendly game at Hampden.

"They were training away and we were just watching when suddenly Maradona just stopped it and took the players up the tunnel. We were wondering what was going on then the ground staff all came out and told us we had to look for a pendant that had been dropped by the Real Madrid player Fernando Gago. 

"It must have meant a lot to him because Maradona stopped the whole session. The ground staff told us to get into a line and do it as professional as we could because there were a lot of cameras there.

"We were walking along and there was a boy on my left who was talking to another boy on my right. One of them then switched with me and literally two steps later I saw a wee shining thing in the grass, picked it up, and just asked if that was it.

"Maradona then came running over and was like 'oh, my friend, my friend. Thank you.' He then just picked me up and hugged me in front of everybody. 

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"He couldn't have been happier that this had been found and I was just in shock about it all. You could see the delight on his face. It was a wee bit surreal being Maradona.

"I don't think I realised at the time but after it it was madness.

"Celtic had got a Celtic top with Maradona 10 on the back and they got me to present it to him. I was still like 'what's going on? I've just picked up a wee silver thing and all this has blown up'. 

"He gave me his hat and gloves and even a top with Maradona 10 on the back." 

Brown's Celtic-daft family couldn't quite believe it at first when he tried to tell them what had happened. But, dad Fraser and mum Pauline were soon converts when the youngster told millions of Sky Sports News viewers his tale that very night. 

For Brown, it was just the start of the craziest 24 hours of his life which was only soiled by one moment he still can't quite believe - when he called him Madonna on TV. 

Brown said: "The next day, I went to school and one of the boys in my year was a paperboy. We went into the common room and he just threw a paper at me and was like 'what is this?' and it was me and Maradona.

"I ended up lasting only half of first period that day. I'm from Cumbernauld and the Cumbernauld News ended up coming to my school and ended up taking me out onto the pitch re-creating the Hand of God with two or three of my pals. 

"Then I got told I had to go home because STV were coming to my house to speak to me. Then, I got told to go to Celtic Park because Real Radio and Clyde wanted to speak to me.

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"I was still in shock. I thought it would all be over the next day and that would be it, when suddenly I was told I would be out of school the whole day because of something I found.

"I remember watching the STV News and realising I had had an absolute nightmare. I did that many interviews and it was only in one, but I called him Madonna instead of Maradona. 

Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser: Diego Maradona gave teenage Brown his gloves and hat Diego Maradona gave teenage Brown his gloves and hat

"It wasn't even like it was on paper and they could change it, it was me speaking and that was it saved. My mum was like 'God, how have you managed to do that? Madonna and Maradona. It's not like they are in the same industry or anything'. 

"That was a bit of a nightmare but it was only a minor one in amongst all the madness."