From todays "Telegraph". I've printed it out cos it's a members' site.

"Diego Maradona has branded England’s win over Colombia “a monumental theft”, accusing them of diving and demanding an apology from Fifa for appointing Mark Geiger to referee the match.
In a scathing attack on Argentine television, Maradona claimed Harry Kane “threw himself down” for the penalty that gave England the lead, insisting the striker was not fouled.
He blamed Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of Fifa’s referees committee, for Colombia’s defeat following the decision to put Geiger in charge of Monday’s game.
Maradona attended the match as a ‘Fifa legend’, with his role as an ambassador having already come under scrutiny over his antics during Argentina’s games at the tournament.
The man whose Hand of God goal helped knock England out of the 1986 World Cup told TeleSUR: “I saw a monumental theft. I apologise to all the Colombian people, but they must know the players are not to blame.
“It is the man who decides who the referee is who is to blame. A man like that [Geiger] should not be put in charge of a game of that magnitude.
“With all due respect, Pierluigi Collina, as the man who designates the referees, he is very bad. He must apologise to the Colombian people.
“I told [Fifa president] Gianni Infantino that, if I worked for Fifa, I would change everything. It has to be transparent. That's why I didn't go there.
“The referee will know a lot about baseball, but he has no idea about football. The Colombian players asked for VAR [Video Assistant Referee intervention] and he did not give it to them.
“Twice, the English threw themselves to the ground and he did not admonish them. This was theft.”"
In an ill-tempered match Geiger struggled to control, England took the lead when Kane was bundled to the ground by Carlos Sanchez.
Maradona said: “The penalty was not a foul. In fact, it was Kane's fault.
“The referee is looking somewhere else and when he turns his head, Kane is on the floor.
“Kane used his arm to hook Sanchez and then threw himself down.
“I repeat, why didn't the referee ask for the VAR? Colombia died standing. That's why I applaud them.”
A Fifa spokesman said: “Fifa strongly rebukes the criticism of the performance of the match officials, which it considers to have been positive in a tough and highly-emotional match.
“Furthermore, it also considers the additional comments and insinuations made as being entirely inappropriate and completely unfounded.
“At a time when Fifa is doing everything within its power to ensure principles of fair play, integrity and respect are at the forefront of this World Cup and how the organisation is now run, Fifa is extremely sorry to read such declarations from a player who has written the history of our game.”

Edited by Jamesey (05 Jul 2018 10.27am)

Edited by Jamesey (05 Jul 2018 10.28am)

Nothing is fool-proof - fools are too ingenious

I feel a bit sorry for him as he's obviously a sandwich short of a picnic

Don’t know why anyone listens to him anymore. man disgraced himself during and after his professional career

When you’re knocked on your back and your life’s a flop...

Lineker's tweeted reply said it all for me in terms of Maradonna.

In terms of Columbia being "denied" progress because of the ref - a criticism levelled at us throughout Latin America it would appear - I suspect I speak with most of this country and anyone else who loves the game when I say:

1. Clearly unhappy when a team not only plays them at their own game but was better at it than them

2. Columbia very fortunate to have a full compliment of players on the field at game end

3. We deserved to win as we were much better at FOOTBALL.

He should've been banned from ever attending one again after being thrown out of the 1994 World Cup.

Optimistic as ever