The "paper ball of God"

The "Hand of God" is certainly still known to many soccer fans. It refers to a situation during the 1986 World Cup in which Diego Maradona used his hand to help score an irregular goal. The expression was coined by Maradona himself when he said after the game, "It was a little bit Maradona's head and a little bit the hand of God."

But did you know there was also the "paper ball of God"?

A paper ball on the pitch was in fact partly responsible for HSV's UEFA Cup exit against Werder Bremen on May 7, 2009.

The score was 1:2 from HSV's point of view, and even a draw would have sent Hamburg to the UEFA Cup final in Istanbul. Everything was still possible.

The HSV player Michael Gravgaard wants to play a cross pass in front of his own goal line in the direction of the HSV goalkeeper Frank Rost. But the ball is deflected by an inconspicuous paper ball and bounces off Gravgaard's shin. This causes a corner kick for Werder Bremen.

But the paper ball gains its real significance from the following corner kick. The corner kick is taken by the Bremen player Diego and it leads to a goal by Werder's Frank Baumann in the 83rd minute of the match. So now it's 3:1 for Bremen - although HSV still manages a connecting goal in the 87th minute, but the longed-for draw remains out of reach, the game ends 3:2 for Werder Bremen.

Tragic facts on the sidelines:
-The paper ball, by the way, came from an HSV choreography. There had been 45,000 cardboards in the club colors distributed among the HSV fans, obviously this paper ball had been rolled out of them and thrown onto the pitch. Thus, HSV was unintentionally tripped up by its own fans.
-Werder Bremen loses the final in Istanbul to Shakhtyor Donetsk.