Argentine legend Diego Maradona has revealed how he scored his infamous ‘Hand of God’ against England at the 1986 World Cup.
Maradona made the comments in an interview with programme ‘Detras de Escena’ (Behind the Scene) broadcast by Argentine streaming platform AFA Play.
The former Barcelona star went through how he scored the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal which dumped England out of the World Cup.
The Argentine icon started by mentioning the physical talent of the Engand team saying: “I was looking for a wall because the English were rocks. Fenwick, Butcher… All the defenders were huge.”
Former Tottenham Hotspur central defender Terry Fenwick and former England captain Terry Butcher were both starters in the World Cup quarter-final match in their 2-1 loss to Argentina.
Maradona went to describe the moment of the play saying former Arsenal right-back Kenny “Sansom gave me the pass. Valdano did not give me the pass. Sansom anticipated it and wanted to play it back.
“In those days we did not play in the back. When you did, the goalkeeper would continue the play so when I saw the ball going up and up and up. I thought ‘I am never going to reach it. Please come down.’
“Then I got an idea, to put my hand and my head in. I came down and (former Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Peter) Shilton did not know where the ball was.
“I looked back and I saw it was in the net. I start yelling ‘goal, goal!’ Then (former River Plate midfielder Sergio Batista) ‘Checho ‘, the dumbarse, told me ‘but you scored it with your hand’.
“I told him ‘Shut up idiot and give me a hug!’ Then everyone started hugging me. (Former Real Madrid superstar Jorge) Valdano then told me ‘Don’t tell me you scored it with your hand.’
I just told him: “I will tell you later Valdano. Stop busting my balls.”
The goal marked the first of the match which gave Argentina a 1-0 lead in the 51st minute. It was actually Steve Hodge who played the ball to Maradona, not Kenny Sansom.
Several minutes later Maradona scored another of his most recognized goals after he dribbled the ball from centre-pitch past several defenders to score Argentina’s second in the 55th minute.
Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Gary Lineker scored England’s only goal of the match in the 81st minute.
Argentina went on to be crowned world champions after beating Belgium in the semi-finals and West Germany in a thrilling 3-2 victory in the final with Argentina’s winning goal coming in the 85th minute from Jorge Burruchaga.
The 1986 World Cup marks the last time Argentina won the trophy.
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Story By: Juan Mayes , Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
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