There are dates that remain etched in the calendar, but what happened on June 22, 1986 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City transcended the annals of history. Today marks 40 years since the day Diego Maradona entered the Olympus of Argentine heroes and stepped into the history of total football. That day, Diego Armando Maradona condensed Argentine idiosyncrasy in two theatrical acts against England.
Four decades after that scorching afternoon, the quarterfinal match of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico is no longer just a low-definition television memory; it is a mythology passed down from generation to generation. Little needs to be said about the geopolitical context: the post-Falklands War hung in the air, even though the protagonists tried to camouflage it under the ball.
Maradona rehearsed a diagonal, the ball bounced off an English defender and rose. As the giant goalkeeper Peter Shilton came out, the «Ten,» with his 1.65-meter stature, jumped with the cunning of the street. His left fist struck the ball before his head. Shilton still says Diego is a cheater, but nobody cares because, in truth, he didn’t even make it into the photo.
But fate, or Diego himself, knew that the trick required immediate redemption to avoid being questioned for eternity. Just four minutes later, Maradona received a pass from Héctor Enrique in Argentine territory. What followed was a masterpiece explained in 10 seconds and 60 meters of running. He left so many Englishmen in his wake that there’s barely room to name them: Glenn Hoddle, Peter Reid, Kenny Sansom, Terry Butcher, and Terry Fenwick. Then Shilton came out and he left him sitting.
Accompanying the run, Víctor Hugo Morales’ commentary became the symphonic poem of the goal: «Cosmic kite, what planet did you come from?» A narration that, 40 years later, still gives goosebumps to anyone who hears it. It was 60 meters, in 10.6 seconds, with 11 touches (all left-footed) and 6 players left on the ground. In short, four decades of glory.
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Che loco, 40 años del barrilete cósmico y la Mano de Dios. Para mí, Maradona no solo humilló a los piratas ingleses, les escupió en la cara a los imperialistas de mierda que todavía lloran. El Diego es Dios, carajo, y esto huele a justicia divina.
40 años y los ingleses todabía llorando jaja para mi Diego les metio la mano de dios y el gol del siglo berretines que tienen viva argentina carajo nos roban todo pero somos los pibes me parece que nunca se van a olvidar de esa cachetada historica