Diego Maradona receives the ball in his own half and starts running, and what follows is not a dribble but a confession. The potrero let loose inside Azteca. A child with a ball attached to his foot, caressing it, hanging on to it, making sure nobody else can take it away. Jorge Valdano is running alongside him, free, waiting for the pass that never comes. Not because Maradona is selfish. Because every time he looks up to find Valdano, another English defender appears in the passing lane. Butcher. Beardsley. Seven of them, one after another, each one left for dead, each one wearing the same expression: horror that this was being done to them, admiration that they had such exclusive access to witness it. Maradona does not beat seven players because he wants to. He beats seven players because England will not let him find the free man. The greatest individual goal in the history of football is a failed pass.

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Valdano, who was unmarked at the far post the entire time, said Maradona apologised to him after the goal. "He could see me the whole way but he couldn't find a gap to get the ball to me. The fact is I felt offended. It was an insult to my profession. I mean, even on a run like that he still has the time to look up and see me. As a player I was nothing compared to him. He was incredible".

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Valdano, writing about Ariel Ortega, named what the dribble is made of before the mechanisms begin: the feint, the burst, the brake, the exit in whatever direction instinct decides, and the courage to attempt it. The first four can be trained. The fifth is the reason the other four exist. The player who has the technique to beat a defender but not the nerve to try will play the safe pass, and the moment will close. Courage is not separate from the skill. It is the first condition of it.