In the world of football, comparisons are a constant, and as well as comparisons of contemporary players (Cristiano Ronaldo VS Messi), there are also comparisons of players from different generations. If we look at Messi’s career, the football player most often compared to him, in addition to Ronaldo, is probably the compatriot predecessor Maradona! SPA D1.Of course, there is never a single conclusion to such comparisons (which, in turn, is why they are so timeless). Fans constantly “argue” in a variety of ways, lyrically or analytically, which is both entertaining and enriching the sport’s culture.
When it comes to comparing Messi to Maradona, many fans will point to the goal tally, which puts Messi ahead of Maradona because he has scored a jaw-dropping total of more than 750 goals so far (and counting), while Maradona has yet to surpass 400.
Of course, football fans know that the definition of a great football player is not only based on the single standard of goals, what’s more, Maradona and Messi lived in a different era. From the mid-late 1980s to the early 1990s, Serie A football was at its peak, and fans called the Serie A competition “Little World Cup”. Because you see Platini, Zico, Ruud Gullitt, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and a whole host of other Italian internationals playing in Serie A, the defensive style of Serie A is very tough, very high level. Maradona joined Napoli during this period. Yet even against this backdrop, Maradona led relegation-threatened Napoli to the Serie A title. He was the only world star in a Napoli squad that was relatively “broken” compared to other Serie A giants such as AC Milan and Juventus. In other words, Maradona was basically a one-man team. And he won the national championship!
Messi, by contrast, has been playing in La Liga giants’ famous La Macia youth system, where he is the leading star of the team, but he does not have to shoulder the burden of winning and losing because he is surrounded by world-class players such as Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Samuel Eto ‘o and Ronaldinho. The Maradona era, with its defensive style, averaged about 1.93 goals per game in 1986-87. La Liga, on the other hand, is all about attack, and in 2008-09 (Pep Guardiola’s first year as Barca coach) the league’s goals per game rose to 2.90. At that time, the fans even jokingly said: La Liga, there is no defense! It’s a joke, but the age and style differences between leagues do affect the number of goals scored between Maradona and Messi.
Maradona’s childhood in the slums of Buenos Aires, Argentina, also shaped some of Maradona’s personality; Messi, on the other hand, entered Barca’s youth system at the age of 13, and Barca even helped him to design a unique development program, which is not seen in other major European clubs “special treatment”. On the pitch, facing Maradona, even Brazil, which prided itself on samba football, had to hide its swagger and go hand-to-hand with Maradona, whose career was nearly ended by a foul by Anthony Goicochea, the “Butcher of Bilbao” from Athletic Bilbao during his Barca days. As for Messi, coming from an era in which tackling from behind was punishable by a red card imposed greater constraints on defensive players and generally reduced the physical and mental burden on attacking players.
In 1986, when the World Cup was held in Mexico and Argentina was still reeling from its Falklands defeat to England and still reeling from its national recovery, football was perhaps the only salvation in life for many Argentines. Along came Maradona, the man who almost single-handedly led Argentina to the final title, including the two goals against England that made him famous (one with his feet, the other with his hands).
Every time Maradona donned the Argentina national shirt, he carried the weight of his country on his shoulders, and the same is true for Naples, a Serie A team where Maradona is the hope of an entire city. Messi, on the other hand, is far more disciplined and consistent than his native predecessor. After all, he has been at the top for at least 15 years (Maradona’s peak was about six to eight), and has yet to win World Cup glory, which will always be the only thing missing from his glittering career.
At the time of Maradona’s death, Argentina’s president declared a three-day national mourning holiday (26 years after he last donned an Argentine national uniform), and the mayor of Naples proposed that the city’s Stadio Sao Paulo be renamed Stade Maradona (Maradona had left the city 28 years earlier). Messi has scored 86 goals in 162 appearances for Argentina, while Maradona has scored 34 in 91 appearances for his country, but are national victories or World Cup titles really the ultimate measure of greatness? It doesn’t hurt that Di Stefano, George Best and Giggs never made it to the World Cup, but when you consider the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Rossi, Pele and Ronaldo, you can see why most footballers still consider winning the World Cup to be the ultimate and highest honour of their career…
What did Maradona himself say when asked about Messi not having won the World Cup?
Here’s what Maradona told reporters: Messi doesn’t need a World Cup title to prove he’s the best player in the world, he already is!