Argentina has been lucky to have had two players like Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi to grace its national team. After they lifted the World Cup for the third time, Giancarlo Rinaldi wonders if trying to rate one above the other is anything other than an impossible task.
The greatest debates are the ones where, in truth, there is no correct answer. Few things fire up the fury of football fans more than discussing the respective merits of footballers from different eras. The latest blue touch paper argument pits the legend of Lionel Messi against the magnificence of Diego Maradona.
The stick which was always used to beat the Paris St Germain player was that he had never won a World Cup. Fans of the former Napoli star would point to his “single-handed” success in 1986 as a sign of his superiority. Well, Leo surely ripped up that discourse this Sunday and in the preceding games of a breathtaking tournament. His legacy, if it was ever in doubt, has been secured in Qatar.
On the trophy front, of course, the ex-Barcelona player would already have won hands down. His time in Spain – and now in France – has seen him hoover up league titles and domestic cups in numbers that boggle the brain. Four Champions Leagues, three Club World Cups and three European Super Cups make for a packed cabinet alongside his mere seven Balon d’Or. A Copa America with his country added to his prestige.
Maradona’s haul was much more meagre, but anyone who knows Serie A will understand that to win two Scudetti with Napoli was worth about a dozen with Juventus, Inter or Milan – given the difficulty of that task. His World Cup triumph in 1986 was a crowning glory but there were also wins in the UEFA Cup, Italian Cup, Spanish Cup and two domestic Super Cups. A more than a respectable selection of silverware but nothing compared with his countryman.
But is that a fair measure really when one played most of his career with Barcelona – a European giant – while the other was in Naples, an underdog even in Italian terms? The goals and honours have to be one measure but they can’t be the only ones. There is more to any footballer than the titles they gather.
That, of course, is when the debate gets tasty as you start to deal with more intangible assets. The first touch, the vision, the dribbling, the leadership, the battling qualities and dozens more aspects which are hard to quantify will always be the subject of intense argument. The era in which you watched most of your football is likely to skew your view.
There is no doubt that Italy saw Diego at his peak and what he did in what was indisputably the world’s top league at the time was breathtaking. When he took to the pitch in Serie A – especially against the big guns from the north – the odds were always stacked against him and yet, time and time again he picked their pockets and swanned off with a victory. In an age, too, when defenders were allowed a more robust approach, he still danced around them with delight.
Messi, of course, has been similarly glorious to watch but mainly with teams where a league title is a bare minimum expected for a season. That does not diminish how brightly his star shone, of course, and his ongoing duel with Cristiano Ronaldo to be considered the best on the planet has driven them both to incredible standards. He has many, many times been worth the price of admission on his own.
They were very different characters, too, of course. Diego was a more voluble, more visible leader on the pitch. Lionel is a quieter character who gets up and gets on with his job. On the ball, though, you would feel exactly the same buzz of anticipation every time they gained possession. Anything could happen, and it usually did.
The journalist who interviewed Messi before the World Cup Final and told him that his country loved him regardless of the outcome of that single game touched upon a great truth. Leo did not become the greatest of all time by winning that match, nor would he have lost the crown by emerging defeated. It is an honour that nobody has the power to bestow anyway.
Football fans tend to have short memories and the latest achievement is usually the greatest – until another one rolls around. Having been lucky enough to see both Maradona and Messi play I would find it almost impossible to come down on the side of one or the other. That I still lean towards the man who carved out much of his legend at what was then the Stadio San Paolo tells you as much about my age and background as it does about any merits he might have.
What we can say is that little Lionel surely shredded the few remaining criticisms of his career with a stellar display this winter while quietly – but powerfully – leading his country to glory. There are other names you could throw into the hat for the greatest of all time, notably Pelé, but he has more than earned his place in the debate.
Who knows, in a few years’ time, we might well have to admit that Kylian Mbappé has passed the achievements of them all anyway. But, in the meantime, if you want to decide whether Messi or Maradona was the finer footballer, you would probably be as well tossing a coin as either answer could be right. Those of us who have seen both on the pitch can count our blessings to have witnessed two such talents.