World Cup: That’s how much the ball was sold from the legendary “Hand of God”!

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And everyone is hoping for a World Cup with games that will make history. Like that of the 1986 World Cup, where we had the infamous “Hand of God” in the game Argentina – England, which came back to everyone’s memory, as the ball from that match was sold for an outrageous amount.

At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, one of the most talked about goals of all time was scored in the legendary game between Argentina and England. A game that will never be forgotten and will always be talked about, since in that match Diego Armando Maradona scored two goals the “Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century”.

The historic ball from that legendary match was auctioned and sold for €2.3 million. This particular ball was in the possession of the referee of the match, the Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser, who made it available to the auction house Graham Budd.

The “Hand of God”
Maradona’s exploits on the grass will be unforgettable and will accompany generations and generations for centuries. One of them is, of course, what he did at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, in the Argentina-England match at the Azteca Stadium. With two of his goals that went down in history, Argentina won 2-1 and qualified for the next stage of the competition, to win the World Cup a few days later.

The first half ended goalless and no one expected what would follow in the second half. In the 51st minute of the match, the goal that has gone down in history as the “Hand of God” is scored. After a wrong turn the England goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, reacts by going out and aiming to block the ball and at the right moment Maradona with an impressive jump in the air, raised his left hand, caught the ball, sending it into the net. The referee of the match was the Tunisian, Ali Bin Nasser, who counted the goal as valid. Despite strong protests from the English, particularly Shilton and Terry Fenwick, neither the referee nor the supervisor changed their minds. “I was waiting for my teammates to come hug me and no one was coming… I told them ‘come hug me, the referee won’t count it,'” Maradona said after the legendary match.

Of course his saying that will never be forgotten was: “Un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios” (A little with Maradona’s head and a little with God’s hand). 14 years later in his autobiography he will write: “Now I can say what I couldn’t say in those years. To speak of that hand of God. But, what a hand of God, it was Diego’s hand! And I was happy that once again we managed to steal the English.”

The “Goal of the Century”
This particular encounter will not go down in history only for the “Hand of God”. His next goal Diego Maradona will be characterized as the “Goal of the century” and not unjustly. Four minutes after the first goal Maradona takes the ball from Hector Enrique ten meters behind the midfield line. Dieguito then embarks on a frenzied run, in which he runs 60 meters in 10 seconds, passing five English footballers namely Steve Hodge, Peter Beardsley, Peter Reid, Terry Butcher (twice) and Terry Fenwick. He reaches the small area, places the goalkeeper of England, Peter Shilton and writes the 2-0. For history England went 2-1 down with Lineker in the 81st minute, which was also the final score of a match that will never be forgotten.

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