Diego Maradona plays the ball with his hand again

The hype and buzz about the Hand of God goal against England in Mexico 1986 is so much that many forget, Diego Maradona repeated the feat four years later in Naples in their second Group Match against the former Soviet Union.

 The Russians would expect a little support from the locals and they could not even believe that the referee would remain blind as well. at four years later in Naples in their second Group Match against the former Soviet Union on June 13, 1990.

The Soviets came to Italy as the favourites if not the hot favourites like Italy, Holland and Brazil. But like Argentina, they had a scratchy start against another Eastern European Nation, Romania.

The second encounter against Argentina would be a do-or-die affair for both.

The game was held at Naples, the home of Maradona and his club Napoli.

The Russians would expect a little support from the locals and they could not even believe that the referee would remain blind as well.

According to Igor Shalimov, “The game was very tense and it was 0-0 when the handball happened. It was the key moment. The ball was heading into the goal, the referee [Erik Frederiksson, of Sweden] was six metres from the incident, and saw everything clearly. If we'd scored that penalty we'd have had a chance. Yes, we lost in the first game, but Argentina had also lost their opening match, to Cameroon, and you can't say they played better than us. The game was more or less equal but we ended up losing 2-0".

“So after the Hand of God when he scored against England in 1986, then another one to save them four years later. But it happened so quickly in the game. And when we saw a replay on the video, well, it was impossible for the referee not to see it he shouldn't have had any hesitation. Yes, you have different kinds of handball when there is no intention, but, in this instance, a man deliberately handled the ball away from his goal. It wasn't just that the ball hit his hand: there was a movement of the hand. He hit the ball”.

“It was outrageous - not from Maradona, but from the referee. Maradona was just defending his goal as best he could. We didn't argue that much because it happened so quickly, but we discussed it afterwards and we all agreed that if we'd got the penalty and scored it we could have gone through. But it was pitiful - we all knew Romania and Argentina would play out a draw so our game against Cameroon didn't mean anything. And they did. We won our last game 4-0, but we were out”.

The referee denied Russia of a clear-cut penalty, which cost them dearly.

They finished the tournament beating Cameroon by 4-0, but it was not enough.

Maradona played the ball with his hand yet again the World Cup.  

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 13/06/2020 Diego Maradona plays the ball with his hand again

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Faisal Caesar