Shiltonwon’t extend hand of forgiveness
Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton says he never spoke to Diego Maradona again in the 34 years after his controversial ‘ Hand of God’ goal at the 1986 World Cup, accusing the Argentine legend of having ‘‘no sportsmanship’’.
Less than 24 hours after Maradona’s death, Shilton hit out at his former rival for ‘‘never apologising’’ over the infamous incident that saw Argentina dump England out of the tournament in the quarterfinals.
Maradona scored both goals in the 2-1 win, the second of which was an incredible solo effort from the halfway line in which he beat five England players before slotting the ball past Shilton.
But it was the first goal that clearly still rankles Shilton, who admitted he could never forgive the footballing great for that display of blatant cheating.
‘‘My life has long been linked with that of Diego Maradona – and not in the way I would have liked,’’ Shilton wrote in his piece for the Daily Mail.
‘‘But I am saddened to hear of his passing at such a young age. He was undoubtedly the greatest player I ever faced.’’
However, the ex-England captain was not so gracious when recalling that contentious moment in the 1986 quarterfinal.
‘‘None of us expected happened next. How could Shilton wrote.
‘‘He challenged me for a high, looping ball, but knew he wouldn’t get it with his head, so he punched it into the net. A clear offence. Cheating.
‘‘As he ran away to celebrate he even looked back twice, as if waiting for the referee’s whistle. He knew what he had done. Everybody did – apart from the referee and two what we?’’, linesmen.’’
Four minutes later, Maradona showed the other side of his game by scoring the ‘Goal of the Century’ to put the Argentines 2-0 up. Gary Lineker pulled one back for England with 10 minutes to go but it was too little, too late.
After the match, Maradona memorably told reporters the goal was scored ‘‘a little with his head, and a little with the hand of God’’.
While acknowledging the genius of Maradona’s match-winning effort, Shilton remains convinced that without the first goal, he would never have scored the second.
‘‘I don’t care what anybody says, it won the game for Argentina,’’ Shilton said of the ‘Hand of God’ incident. He scored a brilliant second almost immediately, but we were still reeling from what had happened earlier. It was a great goal but we were in no doubt – without the first goal he would not have scored the second.’’
Shilton never spoke to Maradona again after that fateful match, refusing to appear on TV with the Argentine until he publicly acknowledged his gamesmanship.
‘‘What I don’t like is that he never apologised,’’ Shilton, who is England’smost-capped player, wrote.
‘‘Never at any stage did he say he had cheated and that he would like to say sorry. Instead, he used his ‘ Hand of God’ line.
‘‘That wasn’t right. It seems he had greatness in him but sadly no sportsmanship.’’
‘‘He punched it into the net. A clear offence. Cheating.’’
Peter Shilton on Diego Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal