A “genius” in the eyes of the Tunisian referee who has not seen his “hand of God”
Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur remembers every gesture of the “genius” Diego Maradona during the match he refereed on June 22, 1986, when the Argentinian scored two goals that have gone down in history, one with a hand and the other a “masterpiece”. In the 51st minute of a match with heavy geopolitical stakes between England and Argentina, Maradona pushes the ball into the cages of English goalkeeper Peter Shilton … with his left fist.
“I didn’t see the hand, but I had a doubt”remembers Ali Bennaceur, who was the first Tunisian to referee a match at this level of the World Cup, a task until then reserved mainly for referees from Europe or South America. “You can see the pictures, I stepped back to take the advice of my second, the Bulgarian Dotchev, and when he confirmed it was good I gave the goal”, he tells Agence France Presse (AFP).
