Newspaper headlines: Maradona in ‘hands of God’ and economic ’emergency’

image captionPictures of Diego Maradona dominate most of the front pages after the Argentine football legend’s death aged 60. “England’s world cup nemesis and one of the all time greats” is how the Sun describes him. Maradona was captain when Argentina won the 1986 World Cup, scoring the “Hand of God” goal against England in the quarter-finals – a moment the paper pictures on its front page.

image captionThe Daily Star’s front page asks where the controversial video assistant referee (VAR) system was when Maradona had his “Hand of God” moment.

image captionThe Daily Mirror reflects a tribute by Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker for its headline that Maradona is now in the “hands of God”, following a heart attack at his Buenos Aires home.

image captionThe Metro also leads with Lineker’s words in its headline – and pictures Maradona lifting the World Cup. It is also one of several to report on the Duchess of Sussex’s “heartbreak” after she revealed in a New York Times article that she had suffered a miscarriage in the summer.

image captionThe chancellor’s ominous warning that Britain’s economic emergency has “only just begun”, is the Telegraph’s top story. The paper says Rishi Sunak “put the country on notice” of tax rises to pay for the £550bn cost of the pandemic in his Spending Review on Wednesday. The Telegraph also says that Liverpool – which was the first area in England to go under the highest Covid rules- could be placed into a lower category of measures when the specifics of a toughened system of regional tiered restrictions for England are set out later.

image caption“This is going to hurt, Britain” is how the Daily Mail responds to what it describes as the “terrifying cost of Covid” laid out by Mr Sunak, who is pictured during a visit to a health research centre on Wednesday. The paper says Britain has been “braced” for years of post-Covid tax rises as the national debt is expected to hit a “staggering” £2.8 trillion by 2025-26.

image captionThe Times’s splash says a forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) shows that coronavirus has cost the nation three years of economic growth.

image captionGuardian’s front page also carries news of the chancellor’s Spending Review amid official forecasts that predict the UK’s biggest economic decline in 300 years following the coronavirus pandemic.

image caption“Sunak warns of emergency and raids aid for UK” is the headline of the paper’s splash, which includes criticism of the chancellor’s decision to cut the UK’s overseas aid budget. It says senior Tories have called the move “fundamentally wrong”.

image captionBut the Daily Express sees the Spending Review as Mr Sunak’s “pledge to deliver on your priorities”.