It is 26 years to the day since Maradona scored his final goal for Argentina

The goal itself is forgotten about, given what happened next, but watch it back and you'll see a powerful, precise finish from outside the box to finish off an intricate passing move. A goal befitting a man still regarded by many as the greatest footballer who ever lived.

That man, of course, is Diego Maradona, and that goal was against Greece on June 21, 1994 in Argentina's opening match of the World Cup in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It wasn't the goal, however, that would go down in history but the celebration. Continuing the momentum from his strike, Maradona ran towards the nearest camera, eyes bulging as he screamed in a state somewhere between joy and anger.

Nine days later, news broke that Maradona had failed a drugs test. His fabled international career was over as he was sent home in disgrace. The footage taken on that camera would forever be linked with Maradona's dark side, and not the brilliance that had preceded it.

Ephedrine, a diuretic and stimulant, was the banned substance Maradona had tested positive for. Given his fitness and weight struggles at the time and having finished an 15-month ban for cocaine just two years earlier, few doubted the validity of the failed test. Maradona has offered some colourful excuses over the years though.

He once claimed that FIFA had allowed him to use the drug for weight loss so he could be fit for the World Cup, given his status as the football's biggest star at the time, but that they had reneged on that agreement after the failed test came to light. Then in his autobiography, Maradona claimed that the failed test was down to someone giving him an energy drink, which he was unaware contained ephedrine in the US, having only drunk the Argentinian version before.

The 33-year-old Maradona certainly knew that 1994 was going to be his last World Cup, and his desperation to get fit for it - even before the failed drugs test emerged - attests to that. His was a career defined by World Cups, having been frustrated by a second round exit as an emerging star in 1982, he would guide Argentina almost single-handedly to glory in 1986 at the peak of his powers, and the heartbreaking defeat in the 1990 final by West Germany would prove a watershed moment for him.

Just before Italia '90, Maradona had won his second Serie A title with Napoli and his fourth major trophy with the club overall.

In the four-year period between that World Cup and the next, however, his career would take a severe downturn, with years of cocaine addiction finally catching up with him as he failed a drugs test with Napoli in 1991. Brief, unsuccessful stints with Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys would follow, meaning Maradona headed into the 1994 World Cup with just 60 club matches under his belt over the past four seasons.

Not that that affected his God-like status in his homeland though, with Alfio Basile building his team around his No 10 and captain, who was now operating in a deeper attacking midfield role, creating chances for younger, pacier forwards in Gabriel Batistuta, Abel Balbo and Claudio Caniggia ahead of him.

Behind that attacking quartet sat a formidable defensive midfield duo in Diego Simeone and Fernando Redondo. Argentina were considered among the favourites for the 1994 World Cup and their dismantling of Greece only served to fuel the hype.

Another forgotten footnote is that Maradona played another full 90 minutes between the infamous celebration and the drugs ban, when Argentina came from behind to beat Nigeria through a Caniggia double. Then, the wheels came off.

News of Maradona's failed test came on the day that Argentina were due to face Bulgaria in their final group match. With the Bulgarians having lost 3-0 to Nigeria, the result was considered a formality before the bomb dropped.

Instead, Argentina were understandably flat with their talisman and leader gone and Bulgaria capitalised, Hristo Stoichkov scoring on the hour mark before Nasko Sirakov added a second in injury time.

In the space of a day, Argentina had gone from looking certain to win their group and possibly the World Cup, to finishing third and facing a dangerous Romanian side without their banned captain.

The two teams played out a thriller in Pasadena, with soon-to-be Tottenham forward Ilie Dumitrescu scoring either side of a Bastituta strike to make it 2-1 to Romania after just 18 minutes. Romania's answer to Maradona, Gheorghe Hagi, added a third with a 75th-minute Balbo strike proving just a consolation. On July 3, Argentina were out.

Though the story is tragic, it is a poetic one too. Would Argentina have won the World Cup had Maradona not been banned? Possibly. But for English fans in particular, there was a sense of justice that he had been caught cheating this time, having got away with it to score the 'Hand of God' goal in the 1986 quarter-final.

Maradona's international career ended after 91 appearances and 34 goals, with his club career taking in a two-year swansong at his boyhood club Boca Juniors from 1995 to 1997, where he retired shortly after his 37th birthday.

The celebration against Greece and the story around it perfectly encapsulate Maradona. We had just born witness to his unique skill, and the drama of his decline was about to play out. This is the moment just in between that. Somewhere between joy and anger.