Diego Maradona’s former teammate, Jorge Valdano, has revealed how the Argentina football great practised his famous ‘Hand of God’ goal he scored against England at the 1986 World Cup on the training ground before the match.
The late football icon captained the South American giants when they won the 1986 World Cup.
Maradona helped Argentina to knock England out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals by punching the ball past Peter Shilton and into the net with his hand.
Maradona died at the age of 60 in November last year
Gary Lineker scored a consolation goal for the Three Lions in the 81st minute, with England losing the match 2-1.
“He had worked on it in training. It wasn’t the first time,” Valdano said in “D10S” a book on Maradona.
“When I took corners in training, he would get on the end of it and the ball would hit the net. Some would laugh and wonder: ‘What happened here?’ Others said: ‘Didn’t you see? He used his hand!’”
Valdano pointed out that for this reason he was not surprised when the late Napoli icon scored the goal, adding Maradona had some doubt in his goal celebration when he punched the ball into net.
“He said: ‘To the kick-off, quick.’ I had some doubts (about whether it would stand). I ran back very quickly,” Valdano added.
How Diego Maradona practised ‘hand of God’ goal against England – Teammate, Valdano opens up
