It is 40 years since Diego Maradona’s crowning moment in the pale blue and white of . On 29 June, precisely four decades will have passed since Maradona held aloft the FIFA World Cup Trophy at the conclusion of the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico™. It was a tournament illuminated by Argentina's No10 from start to finish. Aged 25 and at the peak of his powers, the Albiceleste captain and talisman dominated that Mexican summer, scoring five goals and creating four more for Carlos Bilardo's team. And they were no ordinary goals either.
Read on and relive the action from El Diego's dazzling contribution to his country's second World Cup triumph.
Daniel Passarella, Argentina's captain in their 1978 World Cup triumph had left the squad before their first game. Maradona had the armband. And he and his team-mates hit the ground running in Group A. As he remembered in his autobiography: "All Bilardo's meticulous plans, all his tactics, his obsession with positions, suddenly it all fell into place and we were putting it into practice against Korea."
Maradona's header from his own charged-down free-kick led to Jorge Valdano's early opening goal, his free-kick set up to Oscar Ruggeri to nod the second and then, just after half-time, his far-post cross brought another goal for Valdano. Bilardo himself would later reflect: "The mobility of Valdano and Maradona had completely opened up the Korean defence."
“I scored a lovely goal against Italy, one of my best ever,” said Maradona of his 34th-minute strike that cancelled out Alessandro Altobelli’s early penalty for the defending champions. As a lofted ball from Valdano bounced in front of him and Italy captain Gaetano Scirea on the left side of the penalty area, Maradona stretched out his left boot and flicked the ball beyond a static Giovanni Galli and inside the far post.
“It wasn’t Galli being slow: it was me being quick!,” affirmed Maradona who felt this was the game when the pieces fell into place for Bilardo's men with a shuffle of his options having "freed up" Jorge Burruchaga to operate as the "link" man in midfield. As he said at the time: "Against Italy we’ve proved we form a team."
Argentina’s second victory showcased his creative powers once more. With the Albiceleste leading through a Valdano header, he delivered a left-wing centre for Burruchaga to bury a header into the net in the 77th minute. "Burruchaga made his darting runs exactly when he needed to," said Maradona and it would not be the last time their connection bore fruit.
Maradona and Co were now settled into their off-field rhythms, including team barbecues organised by Diego's father and father-in-law, and an outing to a shopping centre the day before each game for coffees. The crowds that gathered around Maradona grew with each cafe visit. Even Bilardo was now handing the mic to him in post-match press conferences with the words: “Now I leave you with the best player in the world.”
As it was, the Round of 16 repeat of the 1930 final against Uruguay was the one game in which Maradona did not directly contribute to a goal – albeit he had one disallowed. Argentina still got the better of their battling neighbours through Pedro Pasculli’s 42nd-minute strike.
For this quarter-final contest Bilardo did his bit, sourcing a lightweight version of Argentina’s blue away shirts to help his players cope better with the conditions. The rest was all about Maradona. With his 'Hand of God' goal – punched past Peter Shilton – he put Argentina ahead after 51 minutes.
Then, in the 55th minute, came that extraordinary dribble from inside his own half, a goal he had dreamt of scoring as a boy. "It seems a goal like that just isn’t possible, a goal that you could dream of but never actually score," he said. He almost had scored such a goal against England at Wembley in a 1980 friendly but shot into the side-netting. This time, after leaving a trail of Englishmen in his wake, he turned the dream into something truly iconic.
Two of the World Cup’s two most famous goals had come in a matter of minutes. "Don’t cry for me England," declared the front page of El Gráfico after a late rally by Bobby Robson’s men proved in vain.
Back at the Azteca Stadium, Maradona struck twice more to settle the semi-final. For his first, in the 51st minute, he reached Burruchaga's brilliant reverse pass ahead of two Belgium defenders and dinked the ball over the oncoming Jean-Marie Pfaff. Twelve minutes later, he led the ball on a mesmerising run through the heart of the Belgian defence, resisting a last desperate lunge from Erik Gerets before finding the other corner of Pfaff’s net. "A solo of sublime inspiration" is how the renowned English football writer Brian Glanville described it in The Story of the World Cup.
Maradona had company for the final, with Lothar Matthaus assigned to man-mark him. A “phenomenal” player he called the German. After goals from Jose Luis Brown and Valdano, the West Germans showed their resilience too, drawing level through Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Rudi Voller. Yet, despite Matthaus’ expertise, all Maradona needed was a moment. In the 84th minute, from inside his own half, he spotted Burruchaga and the space for him to run into, and he delivered the pass. Burruchaga did the rest.
"Maradona’s coronation" is how French sports daily L’Equipe billed Argentina's triumph. A year earlier he had promised the same newspaper that "If I'm not injured, I'll be at my best physical and technical level in Mexico." How right he was.
Sources: FIFA Official
