Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal in the quarter final match against England during the 1986 FIFA World Cup is perhaps the most famous or rather infamous football moments.  The goal leashed out a series of controversies that continue to reverberate through the game’s history till date.

What Actually Happened?

Six minutes into the second half, Maradona cut inside from the right flank and played a diagonal low pass to the edge of the area to team-mate Jorge Valdano and continued his run in the hope of a one-two movement. Maradona’s pass, however, was played slightly behind Valdano and reached England’s Steve Hodge, the left midfielder who had dropped back to defend. Hodge, who swapped shirts with Maradona after the game tried to hook the ball clear but miscued it. The ball screwed off his foot and into the penalty area, toward Maradona, who had continued his run. England goalkeeper Peter Shilton came out of his goal to punch the ball clear, with his considerable height at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), making him clear favorite to beat Maradona at 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) to it. However, Maradona reached it first, with the outside of his left fist and the ball went into the goal.

A TV still highlighting the infringement

Watch the ‘Hand of God’ video:

Due to lack of sophisticated monitoring and replay tools the referee Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser missed the infringement and allowed the goal. In a press conference after the match Maradona described the goal as “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.” The goal received much flak and became a bone of contention between Argentina and England. It was not until 2008 that Maradona apologized for his deed:

“If I could apologize and go back and change history I would do. But the goal is still a goal, Argentina became world champions and I was the best player in the world,” Maradona told the Sun tabloid in London, thus settling the 20 years old controversy.