No Hand of God, wonder goal or World Cup win! Peter Shilton explains how VAR would have changed the course of history for England & Diego Maradona

Maradona’s standing among the all-time greats was cemented that summer, with a collection of inspirational displays allowing the diminutive playmaker to get his hands on the grandest of golden trophies.

Headlines across the globe were dominated by moments of the magical and slightly bizarre variety - with one particular outing against Three Lions at the iconic Azteca Stadium going down in football folklore.

Maradona netted twice early in the second-half of that contest, with both efforts becoming the stuff of legend. His first was touched over Shilton’s head with a clenched fist - with the match officials spotting nothing wrong - before a stunning second saw him run half the length of the pitch, leaving defenders trailing in his wake, before bundling home what quickly became known as the ‘Goal of the Century’.

All of that could, however, have been wiped from the history books had the technology that exists in the modern game been used back in the 1980s. VAR has its critics, but it does pick up the odd misdemeanour.

Quizzed on whether England would have prevailed against Argentina that day, preventing Maradona from going on to lift the World Cup, had video assistance been in operation, ex-England goalkeeper Shilton - speaking in association with Lynx Fine Fragrance and their ‘The Official Makeup’ campaign - told GOAL: “Well, at the time I thought we could have gone on and won the tournament and I think that's why I had such a grief about it for so long.

“With VAR, I think both goals would have been disallowed from the Argentinians. The second one, Glenn Hoddle was tackled wrongly. If VAR had been around it would have been a totally different thing.

“I know it's not everybody's cup of tea but I just wish it had been there on that day. It was hard to take because I think we could have gone on, we'd just come into form, we had some great players and the rest is history so to speak.”

Maradona danced beyond four defenders before rounding Shilton and rolling in his second goal of the game, with nobody able to halt his progress. Asked if he had been hoping to see somebody take more decisive action, accepting the inevitable yellow card that would have followed, Shilton added: “There's two ways of looking at it. I think in England we're always primed to play fairly.

“I think if somebody would have taken him out, just fouled him, which a lot of teams do, just take him out, you watch videos of games and we don't tend to do that sort of thing. I think a lot of teams just would take a player out.”

England are back on World Cup duty at present, with the class of 2026 hoping to achieve what Shilton and Co were unable to do - capture the ultimate prize. Thomas Tuchel has led his troops into the last-32, where they will face DR Congo, with the Three Lions’ long wait for tangible success having reached the 60-year mark.

Shilton, the man on the wrong end of the most disputed moment in football history, has finally drawn a line under it all. In an extraordinary act of reconciliation powered by Lynx Fine Fragrance, Shilton shook hands with a mascot embodying the infamous moment from the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The moment, dubbed ‘The Official Makeup’, marks the first time Shilton has publicly let bygones be bygones over football’s longest standing controversy.

The Official Makeup took place on the football field of Chelmsford FC, close to Peter’s hometown, and men’s fragrance brand Lynx flew in their Argentinian mascot, who features in the brand’s sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup 2026, all the way to Chelmsford for the historic makeup. Full time: Shilton x Lynx 1, Grudges 0.

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