IT WAS the day we saw the sublime and the revolting from football’s most controversial player ever.
June 22, 1986. Thirty years on from England’s infamous World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina, where Diego Maradona took centre stage.
As well as a football rivalry — which had been spawned 20 years earlier — this clash came just four years after the Falklands War.
England beat Argentina in the last eight on the way to 1966 World Cup success in a bad tempered affair, which saw Antonio Rattin sent off and Three Lions boss Sir Alf Ramsey call the South Americans “animals” and stopped his players from swapping shirts with their opponents at full-time.
But things had changed in two subsequent decades.
Argentinian superstars, Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa had joined Tottenham.
But Maradona — the world’s most expensive player TWICE — was the clear dangerman.
He had been controversially left out of Argentina’s 1978 World Cup-winning squad, and was sent off four years later in Spain.
Maradona came to Mexico with a point to prove.
A Gary Lineker-inspired England recovered from a slow start to blow Poland and Paraguay away, while Argentina finished top of a group which contained world champions Italy before beating Uruguay.
Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium was packed with 114,000 fans to watch the international heavyweights battle for a place in the last-four.
Peter Shilton kept England in the game as Argentina dominated the first half.
But it was six minutes after the interval that the game sprung to life thanks to the ‘Hand of God’.
Maradona received the ball just inside the England half, before whizzing past Glenn Hoddle.
He runs at the Three Lions defence and tries a one-two with Jorge Valdano — only for Steve Hodge to intercept the return pass.
However, the Aston Villa man’s attempted clearance/ pass back to Shilton loops up towards the six-yard box and Maradona, with his left fist tucked in behind his head, rose up to beat the England goalkeeper to the punch.
The Napoli man immediately wheeled away in celebration, urging his team-mates to join him and fool referee, Al Bin Nasser, that all was well.
Terry Fenwick led the English protests, but the Tunisian official awarded the goal.
Maradona showed just why he was considered the best player in the world just four minutes later as he scored the ‘goal of the century’.
His influence all over the pitch was in evidence as this time he received the ball inside his own half.
Maradona swivelled, and ran at the England side.
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With just 11 touches, he went past five outfield players — Peter Beardsley, Hodge, Peter Reid, Terry Butcher and Fenwick — before rounding Shilton to slot the ball into the back of the net and leave everyone who witnessed the act open-mouthed.
Lineker secured the Golden Boot with a consolation ten minutes from time, but Argentina went through and Maradona’s double against Belgium saw them reach a third World Cup final.
And, despite a late fight back from Germany, the South Americans were crowned world champions for a second time.
Maradona’s entire career could have been summed up those 90 minutes under the Mexico City heat against England.
Never short of controversy — and always packed with quality.
Barcelona shelled out a world-record £5million to bring Maradona to Europe from Boca Juniors in 1982.
His career was put in jeopardy when Athletic Bilbao’s Andoni Goikoetxea — dubbed ‘The Butcher of Bilbao’ — broke the Argentine’s ankle with a horrific tackle.
Maradona returned and, in his next meeting with Goikoetxea, started a post-match riot.
‘The Butcher’ again tried to kick his opponent his side beat Barca in the Copa del Rey final.
Frustrated at the result and the xenophobic chants of the crowd, Maradona snapped and headbutted Athletic’s Miguel Sosa, before elbowing another Bilbao player in the face.
Players from both sides got involved as a mass brawl broke out — with Spanish King Juan Carlos as part of the 100,000 fans watching on inside the Bernabeu.
Maradona was forced to leave, as Napoli were forced to break the world record again to land their man.
A local Neapolitan newspaper claimed that despite a lack of “mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona.”
A staggering 75,000 fans turned out to welcome their ‘saviour’.
Led by Maradona, Napoli enjoyed the most successful period in the club’s history.
They were crowned Italian champions twice — the only title successes they have enjoyed — and won their only ever European honour, with the Uefa Cup, in 1989.
Milan legends Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini both named Maradona as their most difficult opponent.
Napoli retired the No.10 in their idol’s honour.
However, his ugly side again came to fore later on as he was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup for a failed drugs test.
Only European players were considered as candidates for the Ballon d’Or until 1995, while the first Fifa World Player award was presented in 1991, meaning he never received the personal honours his majestic talent deserved.
A career full of highs — and one or two lows — encapsulated in a five-minute spell on June 22, 1986.
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