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The former Italy international played with and against two Argentine icons, and ranks a 1986 World Cup slightly ahead of an iconic compatriot
Lionel Messi “is the best”, admits Fabio Cannavaro, but Diego Maradona is considered to be leading his Argentine teammate on any all-time list because the winner of the 1986 World Cup is “another world”.
The debate over which of the South American superstars can be considered the best has lasted for several years, and it looks like it will still last for a while.
Former Italy international Cannavaro is well placed to pass judgment on having played with and against two iconic figures.
A man who escaped Azzurri to world glory in 2006 was just starting out as a teenager in Napoli when Maradona’s mercurial presence was helping the club win two Serie A titles.
Cannavaro would later bewitch the League giants, Real Madrid, allowing him to lock his horns with Barcelona’s Messi talisman.
Both men are assured of legendary status that will stand the test of time, but a stellar turn from the past outweighs the present in the eyes of a defender who once tried to contain that talent.
“I respect Messi a lot,” Cannavaro said. Sky Sports .
“For the new generation, it is one of the best.
“But Maradona is different because soccer was different. They kicked him a lot, but he was always in control and he was tough.
“Messi is the best but Maradona is another world. I never compare him to other players. I never saw Pele but I saw Maradona, for seven years I saw all the games.
“He is not one of the best, he is the best.”
Cannavaro is not the first to suggest that it is almost impossible to compare two icons from different eras.
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Roberto Ayala, another one who has seen Messi and Maradona up close in his playing career, recently said Fox Sports when they asked me to make their choice between the couple: “I played with both of them, with Diego I was taking my first steps. They are two soccer giants, and when he retires, Messi will be remembered.
“I don’t know if he will be like Diego, it doesn’t matter. They are different.
“Diego was pure art in all his gestures, Messi and Speedy González who carries the ball two centimeters from his foot.”
