Hand of god film maradona biography

Diego Maradona's infamous hand of God goal that helped Argentina beat England on the way to winning the 1986 World Cup was "art", according to the Italian maker of a new film on the player's life.

"Maradona was a genius who, in the end, only ever did harm to himself.

That goal was an artistic act," said director Marco Risi at the presentation of the biopic.

"Stealing from the English was not a crime for him. At the time he saw them as the thieves for the war between Argentina and Britain over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands".

The film, entitled Maradona, La Mano de Dios, comes out in Italy on Friday.

It covers the soccer legend's life story from his tough childhood in the slums of Buenos Aires to the present day.

The Spanish-Italian production is sure to be a box-office hit here, where Maradona remains enormously popular after taking Serie A by storm during a seven-year stretch at Napoli from 1984 to 1991.

But some critics are sceptical.

They fear th