Football · 1986 · Mexico City, Mexico
The Hand of God and the Goal of the Century
Four minutes apart in the same quarter-final, Diego Maradona scores the World Cup's most notorious goal and its most celebrated one.
Argentina 2-1 England
Result
4
Minutes between goals
5 outfield + GK
Players beaten, 2nd goal
England against Argentina in the 1986 quarter-final was never going to be only a football match, coming four years after the two countries had fought the Falklands War. Six minutes into the second half Maradona went up with the England goalkeeper Peter Shilton for a looping ball and put it into the net with a clenched fist, disguised well enough to pass as a header. The referee gave it.
Afterwards he described the goal as scored 'a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God'. The phrase named the moment and stayed attached to him for the rest of his life.
Four minutes later he collected the ball inside his own half, turned away from an England midfielder, and beat four more outfield players and the goalkeeper in one slaloming run before rolling it into an empty net. FIFA's own poll would later crown it the Goal of the Century. Same match, same player, ten minutes: the most disputed goal in the tournament's history and the most admired one.
Watch the Moment
