70 2GM Thursday November 26 2020 | the timesSport
D
iego Maradona was the greatest
player I have ever had the privilege
to report on, attempting somehow to
find the words to capture the magic
that this small, stocky Argentinian
could conjure up even when opponents were
attempting to slice him into tiny pieces.
So ignore the cheap retrospectives of his
career that focus on the bouts of cheating, the
Hand of God against England, the sad slide into
drug-taking brought on by the pressures of fame
and brutal attentions of unscrupulous defenders.
Because it’s really very simple: if you love
football, you love Maradona.
You love his poise under pressure. You
love his technique, his vision, his incredible
invention. Everyone has a special moment of
cherishing the perfect 10, whether experienced
in the flesh or viewed from the sofa, open-
mouthed in admiration.
For those of us fortunate to be in the
sweltering Stadio delle Alpi on June 24, 1990,
for Argentina v Brazil in the World Cup round
of 16, we marvelled at Maradona weaving past
Alemão, Dunga and Ricardo Rocha,
instinctively knowing that Claudio Caniggia was
off and running. Maradona instantly found his
accomplice with a pass that really required a
compass to locate its intended target, even
though he was off-balance, even though the ball
needed playing with his supposedly weaker right
foot. Even though the timing was so tight, the
second so split it was close to being fractured
into minuscule shards, Maradona delivered.
Only he could. Only he could pick out Caniggia,
who promptly skipped around Cláudio Taffarel
and scored. Those lucky enough to be in
Turin knew they were in the presence
of genius.
Heading from the ground to the
tram stop afterwards, I picked up
a discarded Italia ‘90 flag, which
hangs in my study along with
pictures of Maradona (and
others, I’m not obsessed). Much
of the talk of that tournament was
of how Maradona dealt with the
callous dispensers of pain that
ambushed him, the Cameroonians in
the group stage who battered him. Victor
N’Dip caught Maradona so high that the
skin below his left shoulder showed a stud
mark afterwards.
He got on with the game. He punished
opponents with his skill, occasionally with acts
of calumny, like the Hand of God against
England in Mexico 1986. Yet Bobby Robson’s
players broke off from their own warm-up tomarvel at Maradona juggling the ball. If you
love football, you love the skill of Maradona.
The Hand of God was a true footballing deity.
You’d pay to watch Maradona warm up, even
to see him when the referee tosses the coin up,
when the great Argentinian would simply
conduct the formalities while toying with the
ball on the centre circle, sometimes doing his
signature trick of stamping down one side
and letting the ball float upwards like
an admirer craving his close
company. Gravity joined in the fun,
guiding the ball down on to that
left foot, less body part and more
work of art. The ball would fly up
again, swooning, flicked high into
the air, and then descend on to
Maradona’s left shoulder. One,
two, three, four times he would lift
it back up. Maradona could control a
ball better with his shoulder than some
players could with their feet. This is why
Maradona should be celebrated. The skill.
Maradona possessed such gifts that Robson
spoke to his players in Mexico about man-
marking Argentina’s most potent threat but
decided against it. How do you trap mercury?
Belgium tried in the semi-final, putting Eric
Gerets on Maradona, and failed. Peter Reid
once told me about his recurring dreams aboutIgnore the cheating – if
you truly love football
then you love Maradona
Sport Diego Maradona 1960-2020
Maradona in the Azteca, and trying to get close
to him. He didn’t in reality, did he in his reverie?
“No,” Reid said, laughing. “Maradona turned me
and Peter Beardsley on the halfway line.” And
disappeared. He ripped apart a good England
defence, including Terry Butcher and Gary
Stevens. He beat an outstanding England
keeper, Peter Shilton. “You have to say that is
magnificent,” purred Barry Davies.
The sumptuous skill remained. During his
time as Argentina coach, Maradona held an
open training session at the Springboks retreat
in South Africa at the 2010 World Cup. I went
along, and was bemused at the shooting drill
that Maradona organised. He pinged in low
crosses, mishitting each one towards Lionel
Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Sergio Agüero and
Carlos Tevez.
“Has his touch gone?!” I asked an Argentine
reporter friend. He laughed and explained.
“Diego knows they can score from ‘clean’
balls in, so he gives them ‘dirty’ balls.” Even
Maradona’s bad balls were good.
At the end of the session Maradona strolled
back towards the pavilion for an utterly chaotic
press conference with the world’s smitten media,
standing room only. As Maradona walked across
one of the Springbok pitches, he saw a discarded
rugby ball. Maradona knew the Pumas game,
and casually nailed the egg between the posts
as he passed. Round ball, oval ball, any ball.
He had the skill.
Only two players can be cherished in his
bracket, can share his pedestal. Before
Maradona was Pelé, arguably the greatest of
all time because of his three World Cups, yet
fortunate to be surrounded by world-beaters,
from Garrincha to Jairzinho. After Maradona
came Lionel Messi, the most mesmerising of
the modern era, far more humble than his
compatriot, but lucky to play alongside
accomplished team-mates with Barcelona
and still failing to inspire Argentina as
monumentally as Maradona did in 1986.
The miracle of Maradona was that even
though he was pursued by the mafia and the
media, by brutal man-markers who set out
unashamedly to mark the man, the likes of the
“Butcher of Bilbao”, Andoni Goikoetxea, that he
kept playing, kept taking on defenders, kept
being the boy from the slums of Buenos Aires
who had to entertain, who had to win. Any how.
He lived a life. A year after the Azteca, he
happily turned out for the Rest of the World
all-stars against a Football League XI at
Wembley and there were some boos, but
patently of the good-humoured variety. His
warm-up, that Maradona special of leaning
down to pretend to pick up the ball and kicking
it forward, brought the house down. Later that
night a partying Maradona almost brought the
roof down at Tramps nightclub.
Three years ago Maradona was presented on
the Wembley field at half-time of a Tottenham
Hotspur game against Liverpool, and the
reception was rapturous. English fans appreciate
class, and are prepared to put past anger behind
them to acknowledge greatness. If you love
football, you love Maradona. Rest in peace.Henry Winter was lucky to
witness a genius at work back
in 1990 – the game will
never know another
quite like the perfect 10
How the greats compare
Pele
1956-67Diego
Maradona
1976-97Lionel
Messi
2004-(^773471)
Brazil
(92 caps) Argentina(91 caps)
Argentina
(140 caps)
Club goals
680 640
312
1958, 1962,
1970
1986 2014
5ft, 8in 5ft, 5in 5ft,7in
Santos 643,
New York Cosmos 37
Argentinos Jrs 116,
Napoli 115,
Barcelona 38,
Boca Juniors 35,
Seville 8 Barcelona 640
Height
World cup
Winner
Runner-up:
1959
Brazilian
league (6)
Third place:
1989
Argentina (1),
Serie A (2)
Runner-up:
2007, 2015,
2016
La Liga (10),
Champions
League (4)
Winner Runner up
International goals
South American championship/Copa América
Major domestic trophies
15
Years to the day by tragic
coincidence between the
deaths of George Best (25
Nov 2005) and Diego
Maradona (25 Nov
2020)
Scotland 1 Argentina 3
Friendly, 1979
Maradona dummies a cross
form the right of the area
to send goalkeeper George
Wood off balance and
strokes the ball in at the
near post with his left foot.
Argentina 4 Hungary 1
1982 World Cup group
Maradona exchanges
passes with Mario Kempes
before bursting into the
area and lashing the ball in
at the near post.
Barcelona 8 Apollon
Limassol 0
Cup Winners’ Cup, 1982
After dispossessing an
opponent, Maradona plays
a one-two and holds off a
challenge before side-
footing home.
Real Madrid 2 Barcelona 2
1983 Spanish League Cup
final, first leg
Maradona rounds
goalkeeper Augustín and,
two yards out, lets
defender Juan José slide
past him in a vain attempt
to block a shot before
tapping home.
Napoli 5 Verona 0
1985 Italian league
Maradona, 40 yards out
and to the left of goal, sees
the goalkeeper slightly off
his line and smashes the
ball into the top corner.
His ten
greatest
goals
By Bill Edgar
The match that
defined him:
brilliance and
controversy
It was in a 2-1 win over England in the 1986
World Cup quarter-finals that Diego
Maradona cemented his reputation as both
villain and visionary. In the 51st minute, with
the game goalless, he spots Jorge Valdano,
the Argentina forward, on the edge of the
box. Maradona passes and continues into the
box, expecting a one-two. Valdano’s touch is
heavy and Steve Hodge, the England
defender, slices the ball back towards the
goalkeeper Peter Shilton. Maradona rises to
meet the ball...
Shilton: I’m closer to the ball than his head.
That’s why he punched it with his hand. He
didn’t out-jump me. He cheated.
Maradona: I don’t know how I jumped so
high. I raised my left fist and moved my head
backwards. Shilton had no idea what was
happening. All the English were protesting
and Valdano put his finger to his mouth,
saying “Ssshhh” as if a nurse in a hospital.
Valdano: There isn’t a single Argentinian
willing to say to the referee, “Look, it wasn’t
a goal”. We have been brought up to
celebrate cheekiness and cunning.
Ali Bin Nasser (Tunisian referee): I saw
[the Bulgarian linesman Bogdan] Dotchev
running towards the centre of the pitch.
And because he was better placed than me,
I decided to trust his judgment.
Bobby Robson (England manager): You
don’t expect decisions like that at World Cup
level. It wasn’t the Hand of God. It was the
hand of a rascal.
Four minutes later, Maradona collects a pass
from Héctor Enrique and embarks on a
60-yard run. He dances past Peter Beardsley,
Peter Reid, Terry Butcher (twice) and Terry
Fenwick, before fooling Shilton with a feint
and rolling the ball into the net.
Shilton: We weren’t in the right frame of
mind after what happened. When you know
someone’s cheating, your stomach drops.
Pedro Pasculli (Argentina substitute): When
he started dribbling we all started to rise up
on the bench, a little bit after the first player,
then a little more after the second.
Reid: The pitch wasn’t great but when you’re
trying to catch a player and he seems to get
quicker when he has the ball it’s really hard.
Butcher: He beat four of us on the way to
scoring but, in my case, he beat me twice.
I don’t wish to be reminded of that.
Maradona: When I got to the area they
surrounded me and I had no space. I had to
continue the play and finish it myself.
Hodge: Then it was down to the goalkeeper.
The dummy he sold Shilton was brilliant.
Valdano: In the showers after the match he
told me that he thought he would shoot to
the far post, but recalled a similar move in
England, some years before. So he also went
past the goalkeeper. Those flashes go
through the mind of a genius.
Gary Lineker (England striker, who pulled a
goal back in the 81st minute): I have to say
I just stood there on the halfway line and
thought, “Wow”. That could have meant
we were out of the World Cup, but it was
just breathtaking.