The Hand of God' is why Maradona was hated by some but loved



"That goal became part of soccer history," he wrote in his autobiography. "There are still 10-year-old kids out there today with 'Maradona' on their backs.To get more news about VeboTV, you can visit vebobd.live official website.

Indeed, it is impossible to discuss Maradona's first goal for Argentina in their 2-1 win over England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup without almost immediately mentioning his second.

The two are bound together in footballing folklore, perfectly contrasting examples of the ingenuity of the most polarising personality the game is ever likely to see.

Maradona was the quintessential troubled genius, a man blessed with a gift that cursed him with a level of fame which he found himself unable to handle.

Were he playing today, he would undoubtedly benefit from more protection from referees – and arguably from himself.

"In our era, footballers didn't get the support they needed," ex-England international John Barnes tells GOAL. "So, you had lots of players like Maradona back then who were considered a bit crazy.

"Now, though, I think that with the support and discipline inherent in the modern game, you don't get players like that anymore."You don't get goals like the 'Hand of God' anymore either. With VAR, Maradona's opener against England would have been swiftly disallowed.

There may not have been as many cameras at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on June 22, 1986 as there would be at an average top-flight game today, but it was clear to many of those watching in real time that Maradona had used his hand to flick the ball past the onrushing Peter Shilton and into the net.

"We all saw it," Barnes said. "All of us on the bench – the players, the coaches, the manager – we all saw it clear as day. We all knew he'd handled the ball, so we just couldn't believe the referee hadn't seen it."Ali Bin Nasser has never blamed himself for failing to notice Maradona using his left hand to beat the onrushing England goalkeeper Shilton to a miscued attempted clearance from Steve Hodge in the 51st minute of the game. The Tunisian official has always insisted that he was let down by his linesman, Bogdan Dochev.

“If you look at the match, you can see that Dochev was in a better position,” Bin Nasser told Olé in 2001.

"I had my doubts, but when I saw that the linesman was running toward the centre circle, I gave the goal because I was obliged to follow FIFA's rules [that the decision of the official with the better vantage point should take precedence]."

In Bin Nasser's defence, not everyone watching was sure what had happened either. Commentator Barry Davies, who was covering the game for the BBC, had initially thought that England's players were appealing for offside.

Terry Fenwick, though, had seen the handball clearly and he raced up to the halfway line to remonstrate with Bin Nasser. However, only Glenn Hoddle was as visibly incensed as Fenwick, which bemused Argentina defender Oscar Ruggeri.

"Imagine if it had been the other way around," Ruggeri says to GOAL. "We would still be chasing the referee today!

"But some of them, like us, probably thought Diego had beaten the goalkeeper to the ball with his head. Diego even told us that it had been a header! It was genius how he ran off celebrating.

"Myself and Tata (Jose Luis Brown) at the back didn't have permission to celebrate goals at the other end of the field because it would have meant an 80-metre sprint at altitude in insane heat.