Diego Maradona once said that his enduring fame owes much to the ‘Hand of God’.
“That goal became part of soccer history,” he wrote in his autobiography. “There are still 10-year-old kids out there today with ‘Maradona’ on their backs.
“And that kind of insanity can only be explained by one goal.
Indeed, it is impossible to discuss Maradona’s first goal for Argentina in their 2-1 win over England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup without almost immediately mentioning his second.
The two are bound together in footballing folklore, perfectly contrasting examples of the ingenuity of the most polarising personality the game is ever likely to see.
Maradona was the quintessential troubled genius, a man blessed with a gift that cursed him with a level of fame which he found himself unable to handle.
Were he playing today, he would undoubtedly benefit from more protection from referees – and arguably from himself.
“In our era, footballers didn’t get the support they needed,” ex-England international John Barnes told Goal. “So, you had lots of players like Maradona back then who were considered a bit crazy.
“Now, though, I think that with the support and discipline inherent in the modern game, you don’t get players like that anymore.”
You don’t get goals like the ‘Hand of God’ anymore either. With VAR, Maradona’s opener against England would have been swiftly disallowed.
There may not have been as many cameras at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on June 22, 1986 as there would be at an average top-flight game today, but it was clear to many of those watching in real time that Maradona had used his hand to flick the ball past the onrushing Peter Shilton and into the net.
“We all saw it,” Barnes said. “All of us on the bench – the players, the coaches, the manager – we all saw it clear as day. We all knew he’d handled the ball, so we just couldn’t believe the referee hadn’t seen it.”
%20668px,%20(min-width:%20980px)%20608px,%20(min-width:%20740px)%20684px,%20(min-width:%20580px)%20518px,%20(min-width:%20480px)%20426px,%20439px%E2%80%9D%20srcset=%E2%80%9Dhttps://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/2d/3/diego-maradona-argentina-england_wglbxo7uewr8158s2qbqe6gf1.jpg?t=1249018091&quality=60&w=500%20500w,%20https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/2d/3/diego-maradona-argentina-england_wglbxo7uewr8158s2qbqe6gf1.jpg?t=1249018091&quality=60&w=600%20600w,%20https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/2d/3/diego-maradona-argentina-england_wglbxo7uewr8158s2qbqe6gf1.jpg?t=1249018091&quality=60&w=700%20700w,%20https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/2d/3/diego-maradona-argentina-england_wglbxo7uewr8158s2qbqe6gf1.jpg?t=1249018091&quality=60&w=800%20800w,%20https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/2d/3/diego-maradona-argentina-england_wglbxo7uewr8158s2qbqe6gf1.jpg?t=1249018091&quality=60&w=1000%201000w,%20https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/2d/3/diego-maradona-argentina-england_wglbxo7uewr8158s2qbqe6gf1.jpg?t=1249018091&quality=60&w=1200%201200w,%20https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/2d/3/diego-maradona-argentina-england_wglbxo7uewr8158s2qbqe6gf1.jpg?t=1249018091&quality=60&w=1400%201400w%E2%80%9D%20alt=%E2%80%9DDiego%20Maradona%20Argentina%20England%E2%80%9D%20width=%E2%80%9D1920%E2%80%B3%20height=%E2%80%9D1080%E2%80%B3%20/></p>%0A<p>Ali%20Bin%20Nasser%20has%20never%20blamed%20himself%20for%20failing%20to%20notice%20Maradona%20using%20his%20left%20hand%20to%20beat%20the%20onrushing%20England%20goalkeeper%C2%A0Shilton%20to%20a%20miscued%20attempted%20clearance%20from%20Steve%20Hodge%20in%20the%2051st%20minute%20of%20the%20game.%20The%20Tunisian%20official%20has%20always%20insisted%20that%20he%20was%20let%20down%20by%20his%20linesman,%20Bogdan%20Dochev.</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CIf%20you%20look%20at%20the%20match,%20you%20can%20see%20that%20Dochev%20was%20in%20a%20better%20position,%E2%80%9D%20Bin%20Nasser%20told%C2%A0<em>Ol%C3%A9%C2%A0</em>in%202001.</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CI%20had%20my%20doubts,%20but%20when%20I%20saw%20that%20the%20linesman%20was%20running%20toward%20the%20centre%20circle,%20I%20gave%20the%20goal%20because%20I%20was%20obliged%20to%20follow%20FIFA%E2%80%99s%20rules%20%5Bthat%20the%20decision%20of%20the%20official%20with%20the%20better%20vantage%20point%20should%20take%20precedence%5D.%E2%80%9D</p>%0A<p>In%20Bin%20Nasser%E2%80%99s%20defence,%20not%20everyone%20watching%20was%20sure%20what%20had%20happened%20either.%20Commentator%20Barry%20Davies,%20who%20was%20covering%20the%20game%20for%20the<em>%C2%A0BBC</em>,%20had%20initially%20thought%20that%20England%E2%80%99s%20players%20were%20appealing%20for%20offside.</p>%0A<p>Terry%20Fenwick,%20though,%20had%20seen%20the%20handball%20clearly%20and%20he%20raced%20up%20to%20the%20halfway%20line%20to%20remonstrate%20with%20Bin%20Nasser.%20However,%20only%20Glenn%20Hoddle%20was%20as%20visibly%20incensed%20as%20Fenwick,%20which%20bemused%20Argentina%20defender%20Oscar%20Ruggeri.</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CImagine%20if%20it%20had%20been%20the%20other%20way%20around,%E2%80%9D%20Ruggeri%20told%C2%A0<strong>Goal.%C2%A0</strong>%E2%80%9CWe%20would%20still%20be%20chasing%20the%20referee%20today!</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CBut%20some%20of%20them,%20like%20us,%20probably%20thought%20Diego%20had%20beaten%20the%20goalkeeper%20to%20the%20ball%20with%20his%20head.%20Diego%20even%20told%20us%20that%20it%20had%20been%20a%20header!%20It%20was%20genius%20how%20he%20ran%20off%20celebrating.</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CMyself%20and%20Tata%20(Jose%20Luis%20Brown)%20at%20the%20back%20didn%E2%80%99t%20have%20permission%20to%20celebrate%20goals%20at%20the%20other%20end%20of%20the%20field%20because%20it%20would%20have%20meant%20an%2080-metre%20sprint%20at%20altitude%20in%20insane%20heat.</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CBut%20Diego%20told%20the%20other%20guys,%20%E2%80%98Celebrate,%20hug%20me!'%E2%80%9D</p>%0A<p>Indeed,%20Maradona%20was%20initially%20worried%20that%20one%20of%20his%20own%20team-mate%E2%80%99s%C2%A0bemused%20reaction%20to%20such%20a%20blatant%20foul%20might%20result%20in%20his%20%E2%80%98header%E2%80%99%20being%20disallowed.</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CChecho%20(Sergio%20Batista)%20came%20over%20and%20asked%20me%20%E2%80%98You%20knocked%20it%20in%20with%20your%20hand,%20right?%20Did%20you%20use%20your%20hand?'%E2%80%9D%20the%20legendary%20No.10%20wrote%20in%20%E2%80%98Touched%20by%20God%E2%80%99.</p>%0A<p>%E2%80%9CAnd%20I%20answered,%20%E2%80%98Shut%20the%20f*ck%C2%A0up%20and%20keep%20on%20celebrating!%E2%80%99%20We%20were%20afraid%20they%20would%20disallow%20the%20goal%20but%20they%20didn%E2%80%99t.%E2%80%9D</p>%0A<p>Maradona%20always%20remained%20unrepentant,%20partly%20because%20of%20the%20opposition%20that%20day.%20The%20quarter-final%20was%20played%20just%20four%20years%20after%20the%20Falklands%20War,%20which%20Argentina%20and%20the%20United%20Kingdom%20had%20fought%20over%20two%20British-dependent%20territories%20in%20the%20South%20Atlantic.</p>%0A<p>The%20Albiceleste%20captain%20had%20insisted%20in%20the%20build-up%20that%20the%20game%20was%20%E2%80%9Conly%20about%20football%E2%80%9D%20but%20both%20Argentina%20striker%20Jorge%20Valdano%20and%20England%20counterpart%20Gary%20Lineker%20have%20subsequently%20admitted%20that%20it%20was%20impossible%20for%20both%20sets%20of%20players%20to%20ignore%20the%20bitter%20political%20backdrop.</p>%0A<p><img%20decoding=)
