A man? No, a revolutionary. A wizard of strength and brawn. A playmaker like nobody we’d ever seen, and a game changer we’ll likely never see again. From his first team, Las Cebollitas, where he began playing at eight years old and won 136 consecutive games, to the National Team, to FC Barcelona, to the spotlight of SSC Napoli, which he transformed into a winner, Maradona was a godlike figure on the pitch. He is an Argentina icon.
Like June 22, 1986, when Maradona wowed the world in a game against England in Mexico City. That’s when he scored his famous goal, which became legendarily known as “The Hand of God.” “The goal was scored a little bit by the hand of God, a little by the head of Maradona,” he said afterward.
Yet it was what he did only 4 minutes later that immortalized him forever, and it’s the reason why a statue of the great Maradona now sits outside the Estadio Azteca. The “Goal of the Century” is enshrined and immortalized in the imagination forever. Sixty meters, past five defenders, an astonishing 10 seconds of dribbling before the goal. That number 10 is magic. It is unmatched. It is singular in its greatness.