On the 30th anniversary of Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal, Terry Butcher talked about England’s infamous 1986 World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina in Mexico City.
Terry Butcher is good-humoured on the subject of the 1986 World Cup, but the smile slips as he recalls that goal by Diego Maradona. “I still feel the injustice now,” he says.
“People tell you to let it go, but we felt we could go all the way that year and you still think about what might have been. It was probably the best piece of fraud you will ever see – and he got away with it.”
At a sweltering Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, England’s hotly-anticipated quarter-final with Argentina was poised at 0-0 when Diego Maradona leapt above Peter Shilton to push Steve Hodge’s looping backpass into the net with his left hand.
England defender Terry Fenwick went chasing after referee Ali Bin Nasser in protest, but the Tunisian was unmoved and the goal stood.
“At least half our team didn’t see it,” recalls Butcher. “Shilts thought he had it because Maradona was so short, but he produced a great leap and obviously made that touch with his hand. We were astounded, our first reaction was just disbelief. How had he outjumped Peter Shilton like that?”
Quizzed in the post-match press conference on how he had scored, Maradona said “A little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.”
The reality was immediately clear to those watching on television back home, and Sir Bobby Robson’s men were still reeling when Maradona followed up his extraordinary moment of audacity with the ‘Goal of the Century’ a few minutes later. His stunning, slaloming run from inside his own half left England players sprawled in his wake. Butcher was among them.
“It was horrible for me because he beat me not once but twice,” he recalls, this time allowing himself a grin.
“I should have brought him down well before that but I didn’t do it, the other England players didn’t do it, and he was allowed to score that goal. You have to admire it in many respects, but I don’t. I always felt that any goal we conceded could have been stopped.”
Gary Lineker scored his sixth goal of the tournament as England rallied with the introductions of John Barnes and Chris Waddle from the substitutes’ bench, but the ‘Hand of God’ proved decisive. Argentina claimed the 2-1 victory as revenge for defeat in the Falklands War, while England went home empty-handed.
