Following news of the death of Diego Maradona, ITV will rescreen a documentary which marked the 30th anniversary of Argentina's 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England - arguably his most iconic performance in a national team shirt.
First shown in 2016 and featuring contributions from England greats who played including Gary Lineker, Glenn Hoddle, Kenny Sansom, Terry Butcher, Steve Hodge and Peter Shilton, the programme reflects on the match itself in front of 114,000 fans in the Azteca Stadium, England’s performance in the lead-up, and the game’s political dimension four years after the Falklands War.
The programme melds those insights from veteran players with archive material and music from the time to provide a close insight into one of the most famous moments in Maradona's career and in the history of the game.
It also features their views on the duality of Maradona - and the fact that just four minutes after cheating to score, he embarked on a driving run to score one of the great goals in World Cup history before inspiring his team to glory in the final.
Going into the World Cup, English football was in the doldrums, with clubs banned from Europe after Heysel and the game tainted by hooliganism. But with players like Bryan Robson, Gary Lineker, John Barnes and Glenn Hoddle in the squad, the England camp felt positive, says Terry Butcher: “It was a bloody good squad, some good players, so the mood was very good and very confident.”
In the 55th minute of the match, Maradona jinked through the England team to score a famous goal. Gary Lineker says: “That was some goal, I felt like I should applaud after that.”
The Hand Of God: 30 Years On will be shown tonight (Thursday 26th November) at 10:50pm on ITV,