Diego Maradona versus England in the 1986 World Cup: Could Gary Stevens have man-marked him?

It's 30 years since Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' performance against England at the 1986 World Cup. We spoke to Gary Stevens, the man who had been lined up to man-mark the Argentine genius in that quarter-final in Mexico…

"Maradona, turns like a little eel, he comes away from trouble, little squab man, comes inside Butcher and leaves him for dead, outside Fenwick and leaves him for dead, and puts the ball away... and that is why Maradona is the greatest player in the world.

"He buried the English defence, he picked up that ball 40 yards out, first he left one man for dead, then we went past Sansom, it's a goal of great quality by a player of the greatest quality. It's England 0, Argentina 2."

Bryon Butler's radio commentary for Diego Maradona's extraordinary solo goal in the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup paints a vivid picture of a magical moment and goes some way to explaining why the rest of the world prefers to ruminate on the genius of his second effort that day rather than remain obsessed by the Hand of God.

England did pull a goal back through Gary Lineker as substitute John Barnes tore into the Argentina defence in the latter stages. Sir Bobby Robson's side even came close to an equaliser to leave many an English supporter among the 114,580 crowd wondering what might have been.

But nobody could have been feeling quite like Gary Stevens.

He was the man who Robson had toyed with asking to do a man-marking job on Maradona that day.

The versatile Stevens, capable of playing in defence or midfield, had made his name as part of the Brighton team that reached the 1983 FA Cup final, before going on to enjoy success at Tottenham.

He claimed a UEFA Cup winners' medal in 1984 - scoring in the penalty shootout victory in the final - before managing to force his way into Robson's World Cup squad despite having earned just five caps ahead of the tournament.

"The way I viewed it was that I was one of the best 22 in England playing in a tournament as one of the best nations in the world," Stevens told Sky Sports. "To me, it was hugely important to gain that status.

"The highlight was coming on against Paraguay in the Aztec Stadium. I think there were about 100,000 there that day and I presume there would have been hundreds of millions watching around the world.

"I played a part with a genuine assist for Gary Lineker's goal that helped win him the golden boot. Glenn Hoddle slipped it through to me and I crossed for Lineker to tuck it into the net. We won that game comfortably 3-0 and it got us into the quarter final against Argentina. That undoubtedly was the highlight of the tournament for me personally."

An encouraging performance raised hopes of a starting place for the showdown in the last eight, especially when injuries cast doubts over the fitness of others. But Stevens saw his hopes dashed on the eve of the game.

"There was a chance I would play instead of Peter Reid against Argentina because he had an injury and maybe wasn't going to be fit," he added. "As it transpired, he was adjudged fit enough to play. Terry Fenwick had a slight groin strain, which possibly would have meant I could have played, but he was also adjudged fit."

Of course, Reid and Fenwick were just two of the many players who Maradona danced away from in such memorable fashion in Mexico City. But could the story have been very different? Asking a less than fully fit Reid to operate alongside the languid talents of Glenn Hoddle in the centre had certainly troubled Robson.

For that reason, the England manager had considered assigning Stevens a specialist role. "In the days leading up to the game, Bobby Robson had asked me about my experience as a man-marker because they were considering man-marking Diego Maradona in that game," he explained.

Could I have stopped it? I don't know. It could have made me. But it could have completely broken me couldn't it?

"Could I have stopped it? I don't know. It could have made me. But it could have completely broken me couldn't it? There wasn't anyone else at Mexico '86 who could get near the fella. So was I likely to? I was super-fit. I was probably one of the fittest if not the fittest player in the squad at the time. But the guy was on a different level out there."

It was not to be. Reid was removed midway through the second half but with England chasing the game, Robson turned instead to Chris Waddle before introducing Barnes with his second and final permitted substitution soon afterwards.

Not only was that the end of the road for England in Mexico, Stevens never played for his country again. "I look back on it and I think we were pretty damn close to going the distance." Unfortunately for Gary Stevens and England, we'll never know quite how close they were.