‘What really happened’- Referee Who Missed Maradona’s Hand Of God Goal opens up, pays tribute

Former referee Ali Nasser, who missed Diego Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, has paid tribute to the ‘genius’ Argentine who died aged 60 on Wednesday.
Maradona leapt with England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and punched the ball into the net with his left fist to give Argentina the lead shortly after half-time at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Just four minutes later, Maradona doubled his side’s advantage with arguably the greatest solo goal in World Cup history, running past a host of onrushing England defenders from inside his own half before rounding Shilton and slotting the ball home.
Gary Lineker pulled one back for the Three Lions late on but Argentina progressed to the final where they beat West Germany and Maradona was awarded the Golden Ball as the the standout player of the tournament.
Reflecting on the match and Maradona’s controversial opening goal, Nasser told AFP:
‘I didn’t see the hand, but I had a doubt.
‘You can see the pictures – I stepped back to take the advice of my assistant, Bulgarian [Bogdan] Dochev, and when he said it was good, I gave the goal. ‘I had already refereed a match between the USSR and China in 1985, I was the man of difficult missions for Fifa.
‘Fifa gave me a 9.4 on this game, I did what I had to do, but there was confusion – Dochev later indicated that he had seen two arms, and he didn’t know if it was Shilton’s or Maradona’s.’

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