Updated: November 26, 2020 10:09:49 pm
Messi beats Maradona without a doubt if greatness is judged solely by numbers. But it’s not that simple. (Photo: AP)
The Diego Maradona versus Lionel Messi debate is volatile, and also subjective. But sport creates a space for such debates, which is one of its most enduring characteristics. It is probably almost impossible to come to a conclusion about who is better, Maradona or Messi. But it is a debate worth delving into.
Who tops the numbers?
Messi beats Maradona without a doubt if greatness is judged solely by the numbers. Messi has scored more than 700 goals for the club and the country, while Maradona’s tally stopped at 226. Messi has won 10 league titles and four Champions League titles. Maradona, on the other hand, had three league titles and a UEFA Cup. Messi has won six Ballon d’Ors to none from Maradona, as FIFA released the award in 1991.
So Messi towers over Maradona?
It is not so simple. Soccer greatness is not judged solely by the number of goals scored and trophies won. First of all, the game was different in the 1980s and early 1990s. Especially in the 1980s, after Italy won the 1982 World Cup, playing ultra-defensive and reactive football but still subduing Brazilian poetry. in the field, the catenaccio (door lock, a defensive system) or its variants became fashionable. Italy was then the football capital of the world, and Serie A had a large number of world stars: Michel Platini, Zico, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and others.
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Maradona went to Napoli threatened by relegation in 1984, played against the best in the game, countered catenaccio and men’s marks and shone even more, securing his club’s promotion in the process. In 1986-87, when he led Napoli to their first Serie A title, Maradona was the team’s tenuous link to world class. Furthermore, Napoli were a rank underdog, facing the power of AC Milan and Juventus.
Messi has played all of his club’s football for Barcelona, the royalty of Spanish football. Although he has always been the poster boy for the team, he didn’t have to lead the team. From Carles Puyol to Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Neymar (albeit briefly) and Luis Suárez, Messi always had many world-class players by his side.
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When Maradona played, football was sometimes so defensive that FIFA had to launch a ‘goals’ campaign. Serie A statistics show that the ratio of goals per game in 1986-87 was 1.93. During Messi’s first season under Pep Guardiola as Barcelona coach in 2008-09, the ratio of goals per game in La Liga was 2.90. Since the mid-90s and especially since the turn of the century, football began to open its heart and home to attackers. Johan Cruyff’s season as Barcelona coach laid the foundation for positive change. Messi and attacking players of his generation benefited from his dribbling effect.
Who had a harder road to success?
Maradona was a by-product of poverty and ferment. His childhood was spent in extreme poverty in Villa Fiorito, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. In 1976, as a teenager, he saw the Argentine coup and the implementation of martial law in the country. Maradona’s personality was shaped by the socioeconomic conditions of his country in the late 1970s and early 1980s. According to economic data provided by different sources, between 1975 and 1990, Argentina’s per capita income decreased by more than 20 percent. Maradona’s struggles had been immense.
Argentine soccer superstar Diego Armando Maradona applauds after the Naples team clinched their first Italian league title in Naples, Italy, on May 10, 1987. (AP)
Messi, on the other hand, found peace and prosperity in Barcelona, where he went at the age of 13. Barcelona, the football club, modified its system and formation to adapt to it. No player from any other elite club in Europe had that privilege.
Did the rule changes help Messi?
On the field, Maradona had little protection from the referees. The images would attest to how Italian defender Claudio Gentile turned to rugby innings to stop Maradona during the 1982 World Cup. Even Brazil put aside their samba football to kick the Argentine. Maradona retaliated and received a red card. During his time at Barcelona, Andoni Goikoetxea, the ‘Butcher of Bilbao’, almost ended Maradona’s career.
Messi plays at a time when players, especially ball players, receive a lot of protection from referees. In 1998, before the World Cup in France, FIFA cracked down on tackles from behind and made it a serious foul. A statement from the Board of the International Football Association read: “A tackle from behind that endangers the safety of an opponent should be sanctioned as serious foul play.” FIFA added: “Acts of serious foul play are punishable by a red card.” Life became a lot easier for attacking players.
Who had the biggest impact?
In 1986, when the World Cup was played in Mexico, Argentina, as a nation, was still struggling to accept its defeat against Great Britain in the Falklands War. Argentina had won the 1978 World Cup at home, no doubt, but fixing the accusations against Peru tarnished their success. Four years later, they made a gentle exit. Soccer was Argentina’s only mode of redemption in 1986, and Maradona led them almost single-handedly to glory. Along the way, he scored his wonderful goal against England, Argentina’s archrival due to the Falklands War. Every time Maradona played for Argentina, he carried the weight of a nation. Every time he played for Napoli, he carried the hopes of a city, Naples, which was called the “sewer of Italy” in the 1980s.
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Messi’s career is much more decorated than that of his late compatriot. Due to his discipline and consistency, Messi has remained at the top for nearly a decade and a half, compared to Maradona’s only six or seven years in top-flight football. But Messi has yet to win a World Cup, which is still the missing piece in his brilliant career.
Regarding the impact, when Maradona passed away on Wednesday, 26 years after playing his last game with his country, Argentine President Alberto Fernández declared three days of national mourning. The mayor of Naples, Luigi De Magistris, proposed that the city’s San Paolo stadium be renamed after Maradona. 28 years had passed since Maradona left the city.
Maradona won the Ballon d’Or for the player of the tournament at the 1986 World Cup. Messi won it in 2014. But the latter fell at the last hurdle. In 142 appearances for Argentina, Messi has scored 71 goals against Maradona, who played from a deeper position, 34 in 91 international matches. But in four World Cups, Messi hasn’t scored a single goal in the knockout rounds.
Is it essential to win the World Cup to achieve maximum greatness?
This is debatable. Alfredo Di Stefano and George Best never played in a World Cup. But that didn’t make them minor players. Most footballers, however, regard a World Cup win as the highest accolade. On the other hand, Maradona himself had defended Messi for not winning a World Cup. “Messi doesn’t need to win the World Cup to be the best player in the world,” Maradona told reporters six years ago.
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