The Times - UK (2020-11-26)

the times | Thursday November 26 2020 2GM 71

Sport

Argentina 2 England 1
1986 World Cup
quarter-final
Maradona outwits five
opponents in a jinking run
from his own half to decide
the match (see graphic and
fuller description above).

Argentina 2 Belgium 0
1986 World Cup semi-final

Maradona collects the ball

40 yards from goal,

dribbles inside Stéphane

Demol and outside Eric

Gerets before lifting the

ball over goalkeeper Jean-

Marie Pfaff. It was his

second of the game and

sent Argentina into a World

Cup final in which they

beat West Germany 3-2.

Brescia 0 Napoli 1

1986 Italian league

Maradona controls the ball

on his chest, spins round

his marker, jinks outside

another opponent and fires

home. Napoli went on to

win the Serie A title for the

first time — their only other

title came in 1989-90 when

Maradona was still there.

Napoli 3 Bologna 1

1988, Italian league

The ball comes to

Maradona in the D and he

flips it over a defender

standing next to him and

scores, right-footed.

Argentina 4 Greece 0

1994 World Cup group

game

In a very tight space

Maradona returns a pass to

Fernando Redondo, who

then plays a one-two with

Claudio Caniggia before

finding Maradona, who

knocks the ball home.

Argentina finished third

in their group and were

knocked out by Romania

in the last 16.

Sport

BOB THOMAS SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY

Reid

Reid Reid

Valdano Burruchaga

Stevens

Shilton

Butcher

Fenwick

Hodge

Hodge

Beardsley

Maradona

Maradona

1

2

3

4

Pass

Run with ball

Run without ball

VVValValValVlValldadaddannnnnnoooooooooo

SSSStSStSSteteeeeeeevvvveeneeeenns

SShShShShhhihihiiiiltltltltttttoooooonnnnnnn

BBBBB

3

4

His mesmerising second goal

1 Diego Maradona spins away from

Peter Beardsley and Peter Reid

2 Maradona evades Terry Butcher

3 He glides past Terry Fenwick

4 Maradona rounds Peter Shilton and prods

the ball home under pressure from Butcher

Peter Reid

England midfielder in

1986 quarter-final

Watching now

it’s like we were

in slow motion

About 15 years ago I was in Jordan for a

football event when I bumped into Diego

Maradona. We had a proper chat and it’ll

come as no surprise to learn the World Cup

came up.

We spoke through an interpreter and

Diego took the mickey about that first goal

in the quarter-final between England and

Argentina, when he punched the ball into the

net. I was telling him it was a handball and he

repeated that same famous phrase of almost

20 years earlier. “It was God,” he said. I shot

back: “Well, it wasn’t my God.” Diego was

laughing. He was a very warm man.

Later on that trip I received two signed

Argentina shirts from him. One was to me

and the other to Gary Lineker. Gary had

scored the goal to bring us back to 2-1 and

almost got an equaliser late on but the

defender held him off unbelievably.

I got the shirt framed but I still haven’t

given the other to Gary. I keep forgetting it

when I come down to London but now I’ll

have to make sure I remember it.

We came off the pitch in 1986 in disbelief.

Diego’s two goals were such extremes. From

cheating to a moment of magnificence. The

first, I was waiting for the referee’s whistle

and the ground just exploded with shock.

You’re thinking, “Wow, he’s actually given it.”

And then the second goal was just poetry.

I brought it up when we met in Jordan

and Diego was just wringing his hands and

smiling. When I see that goal back now it

feels like a dream, where you’re running

against the wind and just can’t get there.

We look like we’re in slow motion. I still feel

massive frustration that I can’t get there.

How the Times

reported it

This is an edited extract from a piece by

David Miller published the day after the

game

It is a stain upon the World Cup when its

arguably most dangerous performer is

accused of being a cheat. I do not hold with

the accusation.

The fact that Maradona’s first goal was

knocked past Shilton with his forearm as they

went up together for Hodge’s sliced

clearance is counter-balanced by his second

goal: an incomparable, solo gem which

personified his talent.

Arguments can rage for ever whether

Maradona’s intention was to use his arm, but

he is not the only player to benefit in this

competition from something illegal. Some

critics called him a cheat at half-time on

account of his regular tumbles when tackled.

No cheat commands the efforts of three

and sometimes four men to try to halt him.

This was often England’s calculated

response. They closed around him like a

gang of farm hands gingerly trying to

grapple with a bull which has slipped his pen.

12

Times Maradona touched

the ball in the build-up

to his brilliant second

goal — and every one

of them with

his left foot

Maradona’s

‘hand of

God’ goal

against

England