Mexico 1986 – Maradona & the ‘hand of God’published at 14:55 BST
If Pele was the game’s most iconic star, then the next global posterboy to lift the World Cup in Mexico’s Azteca Stadium could lay claim to being its anti-hero.
Maradona dragged Argentina to the final of the 1986 World Cup with a heady mixture of dazzling dribbling and dastardly foul play.
Well, that’s how a generation of England fans saw it after the Napoli forward called upon the “hand of God” to help see off the Three Lions in the quarter-finals.
Perhaps the rest of the football world will remember that 2-1 victory in the Azteca for his march through the England team to score what turned out to be the winning goal.
But that had followed a blatant handball that all the world saw – except, it seemed, the match officials.
Maradona scored another two virtuoso goals in a semi-final win over Belgium before Argentina beat West Germany 3-2 in the final.
Image source, Getty Images
