Diego, the hand of God and the bizarre rule of 12

From many points of view, our own Diego has very little in common with “el pibe de oro“, his well-known namesake Armando Maradona. But on the pitch, even if he plays with a slightly different style, he shares with Maradona a relentless urge to score, at all costs, whatever it takes. If this means using the hand to score, hoping not to be seen, then be it.
The ball, coming from a corner, was up in the air in the middle of the Unbibbed box. Diego rose up to the occasion above everyone else and smashed it into the goal with a perfect hand movement usually seen only on volleyball play.
This time technology came to the rescue of the Unbibbed and our Diego got caught in flagrante, so the goal was disallowed. But he managed to score another one, this time perfectly legal, a screamer of a shot such powerful that luckily didn’t find anyone on its way. Almost as good and critical as the one Diego Armando scored against England later on the same match.
Today’s game was a proper test ahead of MG6 in two weeks: an 11 a side packed with Kids, some like Giuseppe back after a long absence, while the Dads were blessed by the long-awaited return of Massimo, who took his place in defense next to Hannes.
Dressed with Bibs, the Dads ruled the game for the entire first half, creating plently of chances, and scoring three times with Ben (a delightful lob), Mohammad and Diego.
The Unbibbed Kids, who also counted in their ranks a few grown-ups such as Jamal, Khaled and Adam, struggled to be dangerous, but never lost their confidence, even when they found themselves three goals down. In fact, they started to play better, slightly moving the center of gravity of their game towards the Bibbed and became more dangerous, until they got the first result, in the form of an own goal from Massimo.
Now galvanised, the Unbibbed made a smart move, recruiting Harry, who was watching the match from the stand, but was already dressed for a proper match and appeared fully fit to play. With the extra man, they became even more dangerous. It was only natural that they scored two more goals, with Jamal and Giuseppe (3-3), as well as the golden goal with Khaled.
After the match, some commentators noted that after recruiting Harry the Unbibs had 12 players on the pitch, which is one more than what the rules of football allow. However this was quickly dismissed in light of the new Covid-19 regulations. As a spokesperson from Downing Street immediately clarified, the “rule of Six” must be applied twice in case of a football match, 6×2 is equal to 12, therefore a team can play with 12 players, applying what is now known as the “rule of 12”. Bizarre, I know, but don’t ask me how they come up with those things.
As for the Man of the Match, he is usually picked among the winner but today none more than Hannes embodied the spirit of the approaching Master Game. He did not leave a single ball to the opposition and swept the box with clean and timely interceptions often initiating fast counters.
TEAMS
BIBBED: Chris H, Hannes, Massimo, Julien, Chedan, Diego, Yasin, Ben, Giancarlo, Francesco, Mohammad
UNBIBBED: Tony L, Riccardo, Johannes, Federico, Nima, Adam, Nima, Marco, Giuseppe, Jamal. Khaled Alg, Harry
GOALS
BIBBED: Ben, Mohammad, Diego
UNBIBBED: Massimo (og), Jamal, Giuseppe, Khaled Alg