Diego Maradona scores Hand of God, Goal of the Century, 37 years ago today

1. Diego is smiling upstairs.

2. This is my wishlist of transfer for Argentine players
   Medina to epl
   Lo celso to Aston Villa or fcb
   Dominguez to Brighton, seville or even fiorentina
   F. Redondo move to top 5 European league ideally epl, la liga or seria a. Thaigo almada to epl , seria a or la liga.
   Paredes to Chelsea under poch

3. If he had lived 3 years more he would be so happy to witness Argentina win the Copa and WC and see Napoli win the scudetto.
   Just imagine the smile on his face.

4. Who knows how long Diego will keep biting Brit brains, even after his death! It’s a brain eating amoeba that has no cure.

5. Nobody was Cheering for the Brits on that day but themselves

6. ESPN: Is that harder to accept than Maradona cheating?

   Lineker: I should have punched it in, but it wouldn’t have crossed my mind to do it.

   ESPN: Why not?

   Lineker: Because it just wouldn’t. I think Diego had done it before. And when you go to Argentina, they love that goal almost as much as the other one because for them that’s like trickery, sorcery, cleverness, skullduggery.

   ESPN: His teammates say that Maradona had trained it.

   Lineker: Amazing. Fair play, Diego! It wouldn’t surprise me because it was so clever. You could hardly see it. I never blamed him; I blamed the referee for not seeing it.

   • @Enganche thanx for Lineker’s interview with ESPN ! Allways respected Lineker as i did also with Glenn Hoddle and Cris Waddle too ! Here is just something about Diego in general and mostly what happened in 1st of may 1986 at White Hart Lane in England…for everyone intrested…

     Regarded by many as the Regarded by many as the greatest player to ever grace the game, Maradona captained Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and scored 34 goals in 94 caps for La Albiceleste between 1977-94.

     He played for Boca Juniors and Barcelona before his peak at Napoli in Italy, 1984-91, where he took the underdogs from the south to two Serie A titles, including the club’s first ever Scudetto in 1986/87. After a short spell at Sevilla, he returned to Argentina and Newell’s Old Boys in 1994 before retiring back at his first club, Boca Juniors, in 1997. He had a number of managerial posts after that, and led Argentina to the World Cup in 2010.

     At the peak of his playing powers in the summer of 1986, just before dominating a World Cup like no other player, Maradona was a little closer to home for us here at Spurs, as he joined over 30,000 fans in paying tribute to his friend and team-mate Ossie Ardiles at Ossie’s Testimonial against Inter at White Hart Lane on 1 May, 1986. player to ever grace the game, Maradona captained Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and scored 34 goals in 94 caps for La Albiceleste between 1977-94.

     He played for Boca Juniors and Barcelona before his peak at Napoli in Italy, 1984-91, where he took the underdogs from the south to two Serie A titles, including the club’s first ever Scudetto in 1986/87. After a short spell at Sevilla, he returned to Argentina and Newell’s Old Boys in 1994 before retiring back at his first club, Boca Juniors, in 1997. He had a number of managerial posts after that, and led Argentina to the World Cup in 2010.

     At the peak of his playing powers in the summer of 1986, just before dominating a World Cup like no other player, Maradona was a little closer to home for us here at Spurs, as he joined over 30,000 fans in paying tribute to his friend and team-mate Ossie Ardiles at Ossie’s Testimonial against Inter at White Hart Lane on 1 May, 1986.

     Here is Ossie’s tribute to his friend, Diego Maradona…

     “It was a massive shock when I heard the news about Diego. I felt incredible sadness. I couldn’t react, I was like a zombie for a few hours. I have to say, I was kind of expecting that, one day, I would receive this news. It was incredibly sad.

     “Diego was an incredibly important person in my life. Obviously, to have played with him, to have been on the same pitch as him, was very lucky for me. He was my partner in crime! It was an incredible honour. I played with some extraordinary players in my life, but Diego was beyond extraordinary, he was like a God, he was so good, completely different to the rest. It was a pleasure to play with him. But when I remember Diego, I remember so much more outside of the pitch. We played together, yes, but after that, I would see him every time I went to Buenos Aires, we would have a coffee, have dinner, just have a chat. He was with me three or four times here in England, I met him in France, Spain, Italy. We were very close. “I first encountered Diego in the Argentina national squad. He played for the Under-18s. Cesar Luis Menotti was the national team manager. We had a squad of 22 players and nearly every day, Menotti wanted to play 11 against 11, the first team against the reserves. There were always two or three players injured, so you don’t take risks, and he would bring in players from the youth team. One of those players was always Diego Maradona. So, we all got to know him.

     “Immediately, you could see he was extraordinarily special. Yet, at that time, when he was 16, 17, we’d seen so many players who were so skilful, but somehow, they didn’t make it. At the time, he was maybe in this category. The big question was ‘yes, absolutely, he is out of this world, but will he make it as a player or not?’ Every day he was getting better and he was very humble, always wanting to learn. If I did a trick with the ball, for example, he would say, ‘show me how you did that’, and I would show him, and, of course, five minutes later he would be doing it much better than me! It was frightening at that stage to see how good he was becoming.

     To play with Diego… it was brilliant. All you had to do was win the ball, give it to him, and relax! He would do everything else. He was so skilful, but apart from that, he had extraordinary courage, heart. He wanted to win at all costs and, sometimes, he was in certain places where it wasn’t easy to play, in teams where it was difficult for a talented player to play like that all the time, up against defenders who I called ‘the bad guys’, and they were really nasty. He played his football, and he was fantastic.

     “Of course, for me, for Spurs fans as well, we have the memory of Diego playing at White Hart Lane for my testimonial in 1986. It’s one of the games I remember more than any other. It was a fantastic night where you felt such an honour that he played for us, he pulled on our famous, special white shirt. I remember he arrived, and he hadn’t brought anything with him, nothing! He needed boots, so we asked what size, seven-and-a-half. I remember asking, ‘who is seven-and-a-half?’ and eventually it was Clive Allen. Diego played the night before for Argentina in Norway and the next day, he was travelling to Israel for another international, the last before the World Cup. So, I said, ‘Diego, you play 15, 20 minutes, maybe half-hour, whatever you want’, but he went out and played the 90 minutes! He enjoyed it so much. He was so happy when he ran out onto the football pitch, so happy. There, he was alone, no-one around him, he’d just go out and play football, that was his real happiness.

     I’m very happy to say that I was his friend. When I finished playing in 1987, I went to see him. He was champion of Italy with Napoli – another extraordinary achievement. To play in Serie A, it was so tough in so many ways, the Catenaccio, the way they marked and how they destroyed players who tried to create. He was in the south in Napoli up against the teams from the north like Juventus, the teams in Milan, and he did it. Champion. Extraordinary.

     “I was always in contact with him. We would have long conversations, talking about anything. He had a wonderful sense of humour, funny all the time, a very special Argentinian sense of humour. Yes, he was special, Diego. The world has lost one of the greatest footballers of all time, maybe the greatest, but I’ve lost a great friend. He was very special.”

     Seeing Diego Maradona holding a Tottenham shirt aloft at Wembley on Sunday instantly brought memories flooding back for fans of a certain vintage.

     Of course, Maradona has previous when it comes to Spurs – the only English club he ever played for during his career, and even then in a non-competitive capacity.

     May 1986, and Ossie Ardiles was coming to the end of his 10-year stint with Spurs. To pay homage, the club laid on a benefit match for their Argentinian idol, booking Inter Milan to provide the continental opposition.

     Spurs also managed the still-impressive coup of roping in Diego Maradona, undeniably the greatest player in the world at that time, to stop off in London on his way home to from an international match in Norway and don the Lilywhite shirt in honour of his compatriot and friend.

     As the well-trodden anecdote goes, Maradona was forced to borrow a pair of boots from Clive Allen after turning up without any of his own.

     Recounting the pre-match discussion, Allen later told Kick-Off:

     Ossie said: ‘Who takes size six-and-a-half?’. I tell him I do and that I had two pairs of boots; one old pair I’d worn all season and a new pair I was breaking in, so I said: ‘Diego, be my guest and take whatever pair you want!’

     Maradona plumped for the older pair, favouring the softer leather. Allen went on to score the winning goal in a 2-1 victory for Spurs, but admitted that he spent the entire match feeling like a “spectator” while getting to watch the little master weave his magic at close-quarters.

     Mark Falco scored Tottenham’s opening goal, while Liam Brady equalised for Inter.

     Here’s some great archive footage from a memorable evening, with a surprisingly plummy-sounding Martin Tyler on commentary duty…

     At the tail end of the video, Tyler asks Maradona if he expected any issues should England be pitted against Argentina in the upcoming World Cup in Mexico.

     Diego says no.

     While Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal against England in the 1986 quarter-finals may have earned him infamy among many Three Lions fans, it is nonetheless a shame that English crowds did not get to see him more regularly at club level.

     But one club lucky enough to have seen him in action in their very own shirt was Tottenham when Maradona turned out for Spurs in the testimonial of close friend Ossie Ardiles back in 1986.

     Ardiles reflected on his friend’s passing on Twitter, posting a photo of himself and his two sons along with Maradona at White Hart Lane: “Diego with my two sons… still in shock.

     “Very very sad but I’m sure Dieguito have peace now. Prayers and thoughts with his family and friends.”

     Regarding the testimonial, Maradona played in front of 30,000-plus Spurs fans at White Hart Lane against Inter Milan in May 1986 – though he came unprepared and had to borrow a pair of Clive Allen’s boots.

     Allen told talkSPORT: “Ossie says: ‘Who takes [size] six and a half?'”

     “I tell him I do and that I had two pairs of boots; one old pair I’d worn all season and a new pair I was breaking in, so I said: ‘Diego, be my guest and take whatever pair you want!’”

     Glenn Hoddle, who played alongside Maradona in midfield as Spurs won 2-1, previously told the club’s website: “The sheer magnetism of Maradona lifted the whole atmosphere. A staggering 30,000-plus crowd turned up for the match, and the kick-off had to be delayed for 15 minutes to allow all the thousands of fans in.

     “Maradona and Ossie entered the stadium after the two teams to thunderous applause. It was clear the public were enthralled to have the chance to see a player of Maradona’s special skills, and he didn’t disappoint them.

     “Of course he did not extend himself to the full, but I am a player whose philosophy is built around skilful football and I could not but admire this stocky little genius.”

     Chris Waddle, who also played in the game, said: “I’ve never seen a better footballer. Never. He was by far the best player I’ve ever played with.

     Getty Images
     “In the game he did a couple of nice runs and a bicycle kick; he was quite quiet, but when you had the ball you knew you could give it to him and there wouldn’t be any problems. His touch was amazing and he was so strong. His change of pace and change of direction were incredible.”

     “In the game he did a couple of nice runs and a bicycle kick; he was quite quiet, but when you had the ball you knew you could give it to him and there wouldn’t be any problems. His touch was amazing and he was so strong. His change of pace and change of direction were incredible.”

     Maradona went on to star for Argentina at the World Cup later that summer, guiding them to glory.

     The legend also returned to White Hart Lane in 2017 along with Adriles, meeting then-managerMauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff along with Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris.

     Kane tweeted his condolences following the news of Maradona’s death, writing: “Privileged to have met him. Very sad news. RIP Diego Maradona.”

     ‘He was the greatest player who touched this planet’: Glenn Hoddle makes touching tribute to the late Diego Maradona… describing him as a ‘rascal’ and a ‘genius’ for the 1986 World Cup quarter-final display between Argentina and England
     Glenn Hoddle paid tribute to Diego Maradona who died after a cardiac arrest
     The Argentine suffered a heart attack with his death announced on Wednesday
     Hoddle recalled Maradona’s infamous 1986 World Cup match against England
     The Englishman also played alongside Maradona in an exhibition game for Spurs.

     Glenn Hoddle has described the late Diego Maradona as ‘the greatest player who touched the planet’ and said the Argentinian forward was born with a ball at his feet.

     It was announced on Wednesday that Maradona passed away at the age of 60 after suffering a cardiac arrest just two weeks after surgery for a clot on his brain.

     Arguably the Argentinian’s most iconic game was the World Cup quarter-final against England in 1986, where Maradona followed the ‘Hand of God’ goal with a superb solo effort against the Three Lions in Mexico.

     Hoddle was on the pitch that day and recalled his emotions after seeing Maradona go from a ‘rascal’ to a ‘genius’.

     The former Chelsea and Tottenham player told BT Sport on Thursday: ‘I remember hitting the ball with his arm, with his hand, and then flicking his head. It was very sneaky with what he did there.

     ‘The referee didn’t spot it, I was trying to catch the referee, not all the players have sold it.

     It was the rascal in him that did that. Then the second goal was out of this world. In many ways that summed up Diego. The first the with the rascal and then the genius with that goal.

     ‘The pitch was awful, the long grass, the rutty turf at the bottom. To score that goal and keep it under that control was genius. He was the greatest player that touched this planet.’

     As well as being Maradona’s opponent during his playing days, Hoddle even played on the same team as the Argentinian great during Tottenham legend Ossie Ardiles’ testimonial in 1986.

     For one night only, Spurs’ midfield lined up as Hoddle, Chris Waddle, Ardiles and Maradona, who had taken time out of his 1986 World Cup preparations to play in the exhibition match.

     Hoddle claimed he and Maradona had a special connection on the pitch that day and it was one of the more memorable evenings in his career.

     Hoddle added: ‘That night at White Hart Lane for Ossie’s testimonial, it was fabulous to play with him. As soon as we got on the pitch, we just gelled. It was an incredible evening and I loved every minute of it.

     ‘It was a sad loss for football. The wonderful genius of the player, what he did with the football, it was like the ball was born with him – there was one attached to his foot.

     There are couple of videos from Ossie’s testimonial game where Diego played with Lily Whites on YouTube so again for everyone intrested i truly recommend to watch them as 1 is starting with Diego walking by Ossie to Spurs dressing room and has the interview from Tyler and another one is just the goals from the game with very bad quality as the 3rd is more about what Diego did in that game !

7. You are missing DIEGO.
   R.I.P

   • great to hear with spanish spoken commentator as it sounds so natural as also commentated with such a Superfast tempo ! never heard it with spanish before, but deffenetly the best so far since watching and recording with VHS, when it was played at live as that, feels ages ago, but just can’t stopping Re- watching DIEGO and ofcourse LEO too ! What a lucky Person i been able to see and support ARG since their first WC at 1978, though knewing how close DIEGO was to be part of Menotti’s winning side and the 1990 final+ what happened in 1982 are Still painfully memories, though at 1978 it did not matter as ARG won for the first time…! As looking back in time, well a bit of more luck and without any unluckyness DIEGO could had won at least twice
     (maybe even at 1978, but, that one was for Menotti to decide…) and the exactly same with LEO too as he should been crowned with ARG at 2014 and won those 2 Copa’s after as also his first WC at 2006 could had ended another way as ARG had a great team and if they would had made it past the host’s as German’s(once again as history kept repeating unfortunatly for German’s to be more luckier…since 1986…) who knows what would had hapoened against Italians…? Well, one thing is more than forsure as u said my friend ” cox4 June 22, 2023 At 9:29 am
     You are missing DIEGO.
     R.I.P ” and sadly,though with more than happy ending as we kind of knew inside of us, that LEO will deliver with ARG too at the biggest stage’s of football ever as one Copa and WC well and deservedly won, and with the greatest performances and with such a age too! Absolutly more than ever blessed we truly are to been able to live through theese most fantastic ever periods/era’s of all time football ! Thank you so much DIEGO AND LEO and thank you so much ARGENTINA for constantly kept on producing so many such talent’s for this game as i’m not going to name them as it will TaKe ages to write their names as so many there has been and so many there will be ! Ever greatfull for country as Argentina ! Keep on keepin’ on ! VVAMOS LA SELECCION OUR BELOVED ALBICELESTE !

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