Michael Batson

To get an insight into football, and Argentine football in particular, you can’t go past the documentary ‘Maradona’ by Palme D’or winner Serbian, Emir Kustinica. Filmed over two years from 2005 to 2007, it includes archival footage and interviews with the great man himself at home with his family in Buenos Aires, and on a trip to Belgrade, Kustinica’s hometown and scene of one of Maradona’s triumphs playing for Barcelona against Red Star Belgrade. Included in the cast of characters are Maradona’s buddies; Bolivian president Evo Morales, Venezuela’s Hugo “The Boss” Chavez, and Fidel Castro; and his nemesis, Margaret Thatcher and George W Bush, the latter much reviled by Maradona. While the Latin American leaders appear in real life footage, the Western leaders are portrayed in comical animated fashion. Bush as a gun-toting cowboy and Thatcher, laughably as an opposition defender on the field, who in one scene losing her head literally, when captivated by Maradona’s silky skills. The backbone of the film is the greatest goal of the century, scored by Maradona in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals against England. Maradona scored two goals in that match, both unforgettable, one for all the wrong reasons, the so-called “Hand of God” goal, and the other for all the right reasons, named by FIFA as “The Goal of the Century”. Maradona collected the ball in his own half and then proceeded to run for 60 metres and 10 seconds through the English defence