Maradona: Hand of God "smart and crafty" (21 Mar 2006 17:18 GMT)
Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona told a former British player his "Hand of God" goal against England in 1986 World Cup was "smart and crafty."
However Maradona denied cheating to get past England in the quarter finals in that year's tournament, which Argentina went on to win, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
When asked by an interviewer "was it the hand of God, or what?" Maradona replied: "No, it was mine. I don't want to disrespect the English, but there had been a lot of goals like that in Argentina."
"That afternoon I jumped up but didn`t make it high enough so I put in a little slap of the hand."
The all-time soccer great said that since no foul was called God must "had given us a big helping hand," hence the nickname bestowed upon the controversial goal.
source : Monster And Critics