Maradona Once Made Two Painful Goals, But Was Inspiration For British Economic Policy

Argentine football legend, Diego Armando Maradona. (Photo: Twitter @GaryLineker)

JAKARTA - Sad news came from the world of football. One of the sports legends of the round skin, Diego Armando Maradona died at the age of 60 from a heart attack.

Maradona is an iconic figure, perhaps even the greatest in the history of world football. His name parallels the Brazilian football legend, Pele.

Many extraordinary stories from the owner of God's hand goal. One of them, of course, was the moment when he led Argentina to win the 1986 World Cup.

The performance is so phenomenal. The most memorable thing, of course, is when he appeared so extraordinary in the quarter-final against England.

Both countries have star players, where England have goalkeeper Peter Shilton, midfielder Glenn Hoddle and of course the sharp striker Gary Lineker. Argentina also has defender Oscar Ruggeri to striker Jorge Valdano at that time.

But the name that resonated the most at Mexico's Azteca Stadium was Maradona. The legend bought up two of Team Tango's winning goals in a 2-1 match for Argentina's victory.

Maradona's two goals are the most memorable goals in football history. A Lionel Messi was even inspired and succeeded in copying and pasting Maradona's two goals.

The first is a goal known as God's Hand Goal. A unique goal process, in which he scored a goal in the 51st minute with his left hand and was "legitimate" because the referee Ali Bin Nasser from Tunisia was not seen.

Maybe a different story if there was a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at that time. Because in replays it was clear that Maradona deliberately touched the ball with his hands before the ball entered Peter Shilton's goal.

Then Maradona's second goal scored in the 55th minute was no less phenomenal. He made a solo run from the Argentine defense area and passed four English players namely Beardsley, Peter Reid, Terry Butcher, and Terry Fenwick.

The legend also got past goalkeeper Peter Shilton and threw the ball into an empty net. A beautiful goal was created, until in 2002, the goal was chosen as the best in the 20th century.

Inspiration for the former Governor of the Central Bank of England

In 2005, Sir Mervyn King, then Governor of the Central Bank of England, was inspired by Maradona's second goal in the quarter-final match between Argentina and England at the 1986 World Cup.

Sir Mervyn tried to adopt Maradona's goals into the direction of economic policy. He tried to modernize the policies of the British Central Bank.

Mervyn tried to analyze Maradona's goal, and according to him, the legend was not actually snaking past five English players, aka only moving in a straight line.

"How can he (Maradona) beat five players by running in a straight line? The answer is that the English defenders react by guessing which way Maradona is moving. Because the defenders expect Maradona to move left or right, Maradona can actually move in a straight," said Sir Mervyn quoted from the Financial Times, Thursday, November 26.

Seeing this, Sir Mervyn also tried to apply it in monetary policy. If described, the market or market in the economy is likened to Sir Mervyn as the British defender Maradona passed.

Meanwhile, the monetary authority is Maradona himself. And this is what Sir Mervyn calls the Maradona Effect.

"The market must be made sure that the central bank will change policies. Thus, the market reacts to the perception of these changes. In fact, the market reaction is what the central bank is actually looking for," said Sir Mervyn.

In recent years according to Sir Mervyn, the Central Bank of England and the European Central Bank have experienced periods where they were able to influence the course of the economy without making major moves in terms of setting interest rates. Central banks are only walking in a straight line amidst market desires which do not expect interest rates to remain constant.

Now, Maradona is gone. But we can still remember the beauty of football through the great "works" that he has created throughout his life and career.

Maradona's work is able to inspire anyone and anything outside of football, even for the economic world. Goodbye legend. Goodbye Diego Armando Maradona!