England goalkeeper Peter Shilton refuses to forgive Diego Maradona for ‘Mano de Dios’ goal

Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton says he never spoke to Diego Maradona again in the 34 years following his controversial ‘Hand of God’ goal at the 1986 World Cup, accusing the Argentine legend of “not having sportsmanship.”

Less than 24 hours after Maradona died from a heart attack at age 60, Shilton criticized his former rival for “never apologizing” for the infamous incident that saw Argentina pull England out of the tournament in the quarterfinal stage. in Mexico.

Maradona scored both goals in the 2-1 victory, the second of which was an incredible solo effort from the midline in which he beat five England players before passing the ball to Shilton.

But it was the first goal that clearly still irritates Shilton, who admitted that he could never forgive the great footballer for such blatant cheating.

“My life has long been linked to Diego Maradona’s, and not in the way I would have liked,” Shilton wrote in his article for the Daily mail.

“But I am saddened to hear of his passing at such a young age. Without a doubt, he was the best player I ever faced and my thoughts are with his family.

However, the former England captain was not so kind to recall that contentious moment in the 1986 quarter-finals.

“None of us expected what happened next. How could we? Shilton wrote.

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“He challenged me for a high, looped ball, but I knew he wouldn’t catch it with his head, so he threw it into the net. A clear offense. Cheating.

“As he ran away to celebrate, he even looked back twice, as if waiting for the referee’s whistle. He knew what he had done. They all did, except the referee and two linesmen. “

Four minutes later, Maradona showed the other side of his game by scoring the ‘Goal of the Century’ to put the Argentines 2-0 up. Gary Lineker cut one for England with 10 minutes to go, but it was too little, too late for Bobby Robson’s men when they withdrew from the tournament.

After the game, Maradona reminded the press that the goal was scored “a little with the head and a little with the hand of God.”

While acknowledging the genius of Maradona’s effort to win the match, Shilton remains convinced that without the first goal, he would never have scored the second.

“I don’t care what other people say, he won the game for Argentina,” Shilton said of the ‘Hand of God’ incident.

“He scored a brilliant second almost immediately, but we were still reeling from what had happened minutes before.

“For the first time in the game, we let him run over us and he scored. It was a great goal, but we had no doubts: without the first goal I would not have scored the second ”.

Shilton never spoke to Maradona again after that fateful match, refusing to appear on television with the Argentine until he publicly acknowledged his prowess for the game.

“What I don’t like is that he never apologized,” Shilton, who is England’s most capped player, wrote in the Daily mail.

“He never at any time said that he had cheated and that he would like to apologize. Instead, he used his ‘Hand of God’ line.

“That was not right. It seems like he had greatness in him, but sadly he had no sportsmanship. “

Maradona went on to lead his nation to World Cup glory in Mexico and was widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. However, drug abuse and health problems would ruin his career and later life.

There has been great grief around the world after his death at his home in Tigres, north of Buenos Aires, with players from the past and present paying tribute.

Tens of thousands of fans lined up to pass his coffin in front of the presidential palace in Buenos Aires on Thursday (Friday NZT) when Argentina declared three days of national mourning.