Italia ’90: 10 iconic No.10 World Cup stories

Diego Maradona: Argentina

Round reached: Final / Appearances: 7 / Goals: 0

Also missing in the Argentina v Yugoslavia penalty shootout was Diego Maradona – much to the delight of the crowd and watching millions on TV. Argentina had already been cast as the villains of Italia’90 due to their negative, spoiling attitude and histrionics, and four years older, with injuries and other vices starting to catch up with Maradona, as their captain and star he was the lightening rod for the team’s abuse.

The legendary No.10 still managed to provide many moments to remember, both on and off the pitch. After the shock defeat to Cameroon he amusingly claimed to have cured Italy of racism. But what has often been lost in the euphoria and revelling of Argentina’s opening day disaster was that Maradona quickly paid tribute to the African’s “deserved win” as the better team, and offered no excuse for the loss.

He repeated his ‘Hand of God’ trick at the other end of the pitch to deny the Soviet Union a certain goal before his wicked delivery from a corner created a vital goal in the 1-1 draw versus Romania, thus allowing Argentina to finish third in their group and qualify for a Last 16 meeting with Brazil.

The genius of old may not have been on show for most of the tournament but he appeared against his country’s biggest rival. A surging run from midfield caused panic in Brazil’s defenders who, like moths to flames, were drawn to el diez’s presence, leaving striker Claudio Caniggia unmarked for Maradona to find. Find he did, and Brazil were out.

The missed penalty against Yugoslavia was put to bed emphatically in Argentina’s very next match versus Italy in the semi-final, when Maradona ensured he’d have the last laugh over his hosts – this time scoring in the penalty shootout which knocked out the Azzurri unjustly.

So Maradona and Argentina reached a second final in a row, in a repeat of the 1986 meeting with West Germany. Maradona failed to conjure his magic one final time however and lost a poor match 1-0, leaving German No.10, Lothar Mattaus, to lift the World Cup. Almost symbolically, the last yellow card of the whole tournament was received by Diego.