I like to think I achieved a little bit during my career: I won league titles, European trophies and was a World Cup semi-finalist. But this photograph is one of the things I’m proudest to have been part of. I have a box of memorabilia and I keep a copy in there.
I know many people see the picture as symbolic of Maradona’s talent and our terror; that he was so good, it needed six of us to stop him. But in Belgium we have our own interpretation. We love this image for very different reasons. We remember how this match really went.
It was 1982. Maradona was just 21 but already the best player on the planet. His ability was ridiculous. There had never been anyone like him. Argentina were world champions and one of the favourites to win that summer’s World Cup in Spain. We’d been drawn to play them in the opening game of the tournament. In more than 50 years, we’d never made it past the first round of a World Cup. To say we were the underdogs is an understatement: no one gave us a chance.
Yet in the camp we had a quiet confidence. We were a decent side and we got on well. We laughed a lot but worked hard, too. We grew in confidence as we trained. We looked at Argentina and started to think: if we do things right, we can beat them.
We spent three or four days debating how to play Maradona. Stopping him was key. We considered man-marking – getting one player to follow him everywhere – but that means sacrificing one of your men for the entire match. We didn’t want to have our game dictated to.
So we went zonal, the idea being that as soon as Argentina had possession, the two closest players would be straight on Maradona. Crucially, though, if he got the ball, they would hold back from tackling because if you dived in, he would just jink past you. Instead, we would press and press, so his only solution was to pass. It’s simple, really: if you can’t take the ball off him, make sure he gets rid of it himself.
And it worked. He was quiet all match. Even in this picture, he’s about to lose the ball. The reason we’re all bunched up is because the Argentinians just had a free kick, so we’re breaking out of a wall. Ossie Ardiles has passed the ball to Maradona and a couple of us are running to him. He tries to pass it back to Ardiles but we smother the move and take possession.
So for me, the picture does not show six terrified defenders: it shows our players working perfectly in harmony. It shows how hard we worked that day, how big we were as a team. It is symbolic of how we took on the world champions – and won.
Because that’s the thing people forget. We won. 1-0. Erwin Vandenbergh scored the winner after I played him through. It was a beautiful moment and a wonderful victory. It was probably Belgium’s greatest footballing achievement up to that point. We made it to the second round for the first time.
And that gave us confidence. At the next World Cup, Mexico 86, we went even further and reached the semi-finals. There, once again, we were drawn to play Argentina. We decided on the same plan for Maradona but it didn’t work so well. We lost 2-0 – and he scored twice.
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