Spanish soccer team desperately seeking Madonna and her 36-year-old shirt

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MADRID (AP) — Spanish soccer team Celta Vigo is desperately seeking Madonna as it goes in search of a 36-year-old soccer shirt the pop star wore during a 1990 concert at its Balaidos stadium.

Madonna appeared on stage wearing the club's true blue colours during her Blonde Ambition tour in July 1990.

She delighted locals who claimed the material girl as one of their own and brought unexpected attention to defender Jose Manuel Espinosa, whose No. 5 shirt she wore.

However, the whereabouts of the cherished garment are unknown and, after searching fruitlessly for decades, Celta is asking the 67-year-old Madonna to help find it for the club's archive.

“Although ours was not the only football shirt you ever wore on stage, this iconic image has grown to shine differently as years have passed,” Celta president Marián Mouriño Terrazo wrote in an open letter to the American icon.

“Over time we came to better understand what you stood for back then: questioning established norms and standing up to those who try to tell you what you can or cannot do. At our club we recognise ourselves in this line of thought. That is why we hold on to the hope of finding the garment you once wore.

“Do you have it? If you know where it may be, or if you would like to join us in the search to retrieve it, please contact us via private message.”

The appeal caused a commotion on social media after it was published on Wednesday and the club doubled down before Friday's 2-1 home league defeat by Real Madrid, playing Madonna’s songs before kickoff and putting her picture on the field and on social media.

Mouriño Terrazo told local media he was hopeful the repercussions would reach the pop star.

“I imagine that the letter reached Madonna and that she will reply,” he said.

Madonna burst on the scene in 1983 with the hit Holiday and followed that with a run of top-10 hits that included “Like a Virgin”,” Papa Don’t Preach” and “Ray of Light.”

She remains one of the most successful recording artists in history.

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