Maradona's "Hand of God" was actually handball.

On June 22, 1986, in the quarter-finals of the 1986 Mexico World Cup at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, Diego Maradona, then captain of the Argentina national team, He scored the ball into the England goal with his hand. This is the famous "Hand of God" incident.

The game was still tied 0:0 in the 6th minute of the second half. Maradona first distributed the ball to his teammate Valdano on the wing, whose shot was blocked by England defender Hodge and then passed back to goalkeeper Hilton.

At this time, although Maradona grabbed the first point, facing the tall and powerful Hilton, it was extremely difficult for him to header the ball. In the end, he chose to pass the ball with his hands. When he scored the goal, due to his short stature and very concealed movements, the Tunisian referee Nasser did not notice it and ruled that the goal was valid. Although Hilton and his teammates argued hard, the outcome could not be changed.

After taking the lead with this goal, Maradona then scored what can be called the most exciting goal in the history of the World Cup - the "Goal of the Century." In this game, Argentina eventually won 2:1 and eventually won the World Cup championship.

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Impact of the incident

While the English were protesting, the Argentinians were celebrating the goal (the video showed that Maradona was Watch the referee out of the corner of your eye).

At the post-match press conference, Maradona declared that the goal was "half the hand of God, half Maradona's head" (A little of the hand of God, and a little of the head of Maradona), further humiliating the British by invoking God as the final master of whether a goal is scored or not. For the Argentinians who had just been defeated by the British in the "Falks Islands War", winning Probably the best way to get revenge.

Maradona believed that this goal was God's punishment for the English, further intensifying the feud between Argentina and England in football. Relations between the two countries were very tense at this time.

There is ample video and photographic evidence to prove that Maradona raised his forearm high to allow his smaller self to touch the ball before Hilton. The video clip was repeatedly broadcast by media outlets around the world. The British media even called this the "hand of the devil". This goal was mentioned many times by the media and fans many years later in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup matches between the two teams.

After this incident, people began to call the situation in which the ball was scored by hand in a football match and was ruled valid as the "Hand of God."