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Minutes before scoring the most beautiful goal in football history, Diego Armando Maradona, who died on Wednesday at the age of sixty, had scored the most controversial: that of the famous “hand of God”, achieved shamelessly with his hand and nevertheless enough of hidden so that the referee does not see it.
It was June 22, 1986 and the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup were being played at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City between Argentina and England. The two sides had been rivals since the controversial 1966 World Cup quarter-finals, in which England won a dirty and close match, and tensions were further aggravated by the Falklands War, fought four years earlier. Neither Argentina nor England were considered favorites, but they had played a good tournament so far.
The first half ended without a goal, despite several chances for both teams. Maradona looked fit, but what he did in the first ten minutes of the second half was something never seen before. In the 51st minute, Maradona received the ball just past the midpoint and quickly pushed towards the English goal, ruling out a pair of opponents. Arriving at the edge of the area he passed it to his teammate Jorge Valdano, on the right, who nevertheless controlled it poorly. This was how England defender Steve Hodge intervened, who nevertheless kicked the ball towards his goal, providing a formidable cross to Maradona, who in the meantime had positioned himself alone in the center of the area.
He and goalkeeper Peter Shilton both dove for the ball: At 65 meters tall, Maradona didn’t seem to have much hope but anticipated it for a moment, throwing the ball into the net. Except that, within seconds, the other shots would be revealed to millions of viewers around the world, he had hit her with his fist and not his head.
Immediately all the English players raised their arms, imitating the gesture of Maradona, who meanwhile had gone to cheer as if nothing had happened. But Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur had seen nothing, as had his assistants: the goal was validated. A few minutes later, Maradona scored the only goal capable of obscuring a goal in a World Cup quarter-final: he ruled out England, starting from the middle and finishing on the baseline. Argentina would have won 2-0, beat Belgium in the semifinals and won the World Cup by beating West Germany 3-2 in the final.
It was Maradona himself who coined the expression “hand of God”, stating after the game that he had marked him “a little with his head, a little with the hand of God.” Maradona would later admit many years after he scored his first goal with his hand: “Now I can tell you what I couldn’t at the time, what I had called ‘the hand of God’ was the ‘hand of Diego’!” – and at one point he even appeared to have apologized to the British, only to deny the interview on the grounds that the story was already written and that apologizing would be stupid.
– Read also: Maradona was this
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