Diego Maradona led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title in Mexico.
As we mark four decades since the 1986 Fifa World Cup, we celebrate the absolute zenith of an individual genius carrying a collective to glory under the baking Mexican sun.
After Brazil's Pelé dominated the world stage from 1958 until 1970, it was now the turn of Diego Armando Maradona. Argentina’s mercurial No 10 did not merely play in a football tournament; he treated the sport’s greatest stage as his personal canvas, painting a masterpiece that was as deeply flawed as it was undeniably divine.
None more so than in the controversy-filled quarter-final against England, when he authored the two most famous goals in the history of the sport.
The first was when he illegally punched the ball with his fist over England goalkeeper and captain, Peter Shilton, into the net. Unnoticed by the referee and his assistants, Maradona and Argentina celebrated the "goal", which Maradona later referred to as "The Hand of God".
