Diego Maradona acknowledges his infamous goal against England in the 1986 World Cup would have been disallowed if video technology had been used.
Diego Maradona, the Argentine legend, acknowledged that his famous handball goal against England in the 1986 World Cup would have been disallowed if it had been reviewed through video. He also revealed that another play of his in the 1990 World Cup would have caused controversy if it had been subjected to video refereeing.
"I started thinking and, of course, with technology that goal would not have counted, it would not have been validated," said Maradona in an interview with FIFA's website published on Tuesday, referring to the goal that became known as the "Hand of God".
Argentina defeated England 2-1 in the quarterfinals of that World Cup in Mexico with two goals by Maradona: at 51 minutes, he beat English goalkeeper Peter Shilton in a jump and hit the ball with his left hand. Shortly afterwards, he scored what is considered the best goal in World Cup history, dribbling past half of the English team from midfield.
Maradona even admitted that another play of his would have caused controversy if technology had existed during his playing days.
"In the 1990 World Cup, I also used my hand to clear the ball off our goal line against the Soviet Union," he said about a group stage match in the World Cup in Italy that ended with an Argentine victory of 2-0. "At that time, the referee did not see it either, we were lucky. But at that time there was no possibility of using technology, today it's a different story."
Video refereeing was used last month in the Confederations Cup in Russia, and FIFA wants to accelerate the testing in order to implement it in next year's World Cup.
In that sense, Maradona considered that football "cannot lag behind" in the use of technology.
"If technology advances as it does, if all sports use it, how can we not consider it for football?" he said. "Technology brings transparency and quality, it gives a positive response to the team that decides to attack and take risks."
Source: AP
Álvaro Morata debuted at Chelsea with an assist. (Getty / YouTube)