Maradona: Tacconi says honour to be beaten by wonder goal

(ANSA) - ROME, 27 NOV - Former Juventus keeper Stefano Tacconi said Friday it was an honour to have been beaten by a 1985 wonder goal by Napoli legend Diego Maradona that defied the laws of physics.
    "That was the second most beautiful goal that Diego ever scored," Tacconi told ANSA, placing first the 'goal of the century' that won the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal for Argentina against England just minutes after his controversial 'Hand of God' goal.
    In the famed freekick at a rainy San Paolo on November 3, 1985, Maradona took a touch from midfielder Eraldo Pecci inside the box and curled the ball into the net past Tacconi's despairing dive in a seemingly impossibly parabola.
    "It was an impossible goal," said Tacconi, "and if I had saved it they would have given me a medal.
    "When you get beaten by certain champions, you can remember it for the rest of your life and tell your grandchildren, it wasn't as if you were beaten by just anyone." Tacconi said he is still asking himself "how he managed to carve that trajectory. It was an impossible goal, for the simple reason that the barrier was extremely close; it was an indirect free kick, from inside the area, I couldn't see the ball, I dived instinctually, but he had already foreseen where that trajectory would end up, "It was a real touch of genius," Tacconi said.
    "For the things he showed us, (Maradona) must be considered the greatest," Tacconi said.
    Maradona's second goal against England in 1986, in which he dribbled past six England players before jabbing the ball into the net from an acute angle, is widely considered the best goal ever.
    His first, in which he tipped the ball past goalie Peter Shilton's punch in what he said was "a little bit my hand, and a bit the Hand of God," was celebrated in Argentina as cheeky pay-back for the Falklands War. (ANSA).