Diego Maradona for the winning goal in the final, ensuring that he would be remembered as one of the greatest names in football history. By the end of the World Cup, Maradona went on to win the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament by unanimous vote and was widely regarded to have won the World Cup virtually single-handedly, something that he later stated he did not entirely agree with. Zinedine Zidane, watching the 1986 World Cup as a 14 year old, stated Maradona “was on another level”. In a tribute to him, Azteca Stadium authorities built a statue of
The hand of God so, since once the match was over it could not be changed. In early 2008, "The Sun" newspaper published an article in which they implied that Maradona, during a visit to England, had apologized for what is described as "the infamous goal of The Hand of God". The newspaper, first of all, cites the phrase in this form:but later repeats the same quotation by adding the word "apologize" which did not appear in the first one, despite being the same sentence:And complete the idea:Before Maradona denied the fact, several world media outlets raised the news, creating controversy in public opinion.