DBasia.news – The sad news about Diego Armando Maradona appeared on Wednesday (25/11). The Argentine football legend has died of a heart attack at the age of 60.
Maradona was found breathless in the morning local time after undergoing home treatment. Previously the Napoli legend was hospitalized with a blood clot in his brain after falling.
News of Maradona’s death caused various reactions from the world, including condolences from world football figures. Maradona was inspired by his genius and natural way of dribbling the ball.
However, there are some ‘dark’ sides of Maradona that are not worthy of being imitated, such as addiction to drugs, alcoholic drinks, and some of the controversies he has ever made. Apart from that Maradona is a legend and icon of world football.
But not everyone has fond memories of Maradona, as legendary England goalkeeper Peter Shilton recalls. The former Nottingham Forest player remembers very well the historic moment at the 1986 World Cup.
In the year Argentina won the World Cup Maradona scored a controversial goal against England with his hands. With the lack of technology at that time and completely relying on the instincts of the referee, Maradona’s goal was passed.
Maradona’s goal gave Argentina a 2-1 win over England and was remembered as the ‘Hand of God’ goal. Shilton was right there guarding the England national team goal. 34 years later and Shilton is still haunted by him.
Maradona is a great figure in the eyes of Shilton, but not with a spirit of sportsmanship because after the ‘Hand of God’ goal Maradona never apologized to England.
“It (Maradona’s goal) has been bothering me for years. I’m not going to lie about that now. People say I should have cleared the ball and I let the smaller guy beat me. It was bullshit. He ran towards me but it could happen,” Shilton told Dailymail.
“He wouldn’t punch the ball if he knew he could gore it, would he? Of course not. So I was fine with all that.”
“No, what I don’t like is that he never apologized. Never at any stage did he say he had cheated and that he wanted to apologize. Instead, he used the phrase ‘Hand of God’. That’s not true.”
“It looks like he has greatness in himself but unfortunately there is no sportsmanship,” said Shilton.
Shilton was also sure that those in the England squad that year still felt the same way as Maradona’s figure.
“Most of the English teams playing in Mexico feel the way I did to this day,” added Shilton.
“It wasn’t just me who was cheated, but the whole team. We have a chance of reaching the top four and maybe the World Cup final. How often does that happen?”
“I was lucky. My chance to come again four years later but the others were not so lucky,” he explained.