The Hand of God

Question

This puzzle is dedicated to the great Diego Maradona.
Maradona has the ball and is going for an amazing run. He must get around all his opponents and score the ball into the goals (gray cells). At each turn he can do the following:

Move into one of 8 neighboring empty cells.
Move into the neighboring cell with the ball. This will push the ball into its neighboring cell in the same direction, provided that it is empty. If the ball's neighboring cell is not empty then the move cannot occur. For example, currently Maradona cannot move up.

Maradona cannot move outside the grid and his opponents do not move (they are too slow to react!). What is the least number of turns required for Maradona to score?

Bubbler · Accepted Answer

I can find

where the paths are (describing the ball's movement in NSEW; Maradona's moves are implied between direction changes, where he has to move without moving the ball)

I observed that

Also

Den · Answer

If I undersood the rules correctly, 9 turns.

Goes W alone
Goes NE with the ball
Goes NE with the ball
Goes N with the ball
Goes E alone
Goes N with the ball
Goes N with the ball
Goes E alone
Goes NW with the ball - scoring move.

Manus Deus · Answer

It's 6 moves.
NW
NW
N
N
N
NE
All moves are with the ball.
The other answers are spending moves making maradona move without the ball but it don't see the point. There's nothing specifying maradona can't move diagonally, while the ball also moves diagonally. He can move into 8 neighboring cells and the ball can do the same.
Edit: Observing that maradona can "Move into the neighboring cell with the ball. This will push the ball into its neighboring cell in the same direction, provided that it is empty." This means that maradona can move NW on first move, and the ball also moves NW

The Hand of God

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