Usain Bolt has expressed his condolences at the passing of Diego Maradona, the Argentine football legend who scored the “Hand of God” goal in 1986 and led his country to that year’s World Cup.
Bolt posted two photos of himself and Diego Maradona to his Instagram and Twitter account and wrote, “RIP to legend #Maradona” with a praying emoji.
Maradona’s spokesman, Sebastián Sanchi, said he died Wednesday of a heart attack, two weeks after being released from a hospital in Buenos Aires following brain surgery.
The office of Argentina’s president said it will decree three days of national mourning, and the Argentine soccer association expressed its sorrow on Twitter.
One of the most famous moments in the history of the sport, the “Hand of God” goal, came when the diminutive Maradona punched the ball into England’s net during the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals. England said the ball went in off of Maradona’s hand, not his head. Maradona himself gave conflicting accounts of what had happened over the years, at one point attributing the goal to divine intervention, to “the hand of God.”
Ahead of his 60th birthday in October, Maradona told France Football magazine that it was his dream to “score another goal against the English, this time with the right hand.”
Maradona also captivated fans around the world over a two-decade career with a bewitching style of play that was all his own.
