Lionel Messi was asked by Diego Maradona, who recently passed away, whether he needed a World Cup victory to define his legacy. Maradona, who was never one to shy away from offering his view, was honest in his appraisal.
Both Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi are considered to be among the best footballers of all time, yet their off-the-field lives couldn’t be more different from one another. Both were born and raised in Argentina.
Maradona, who was once considered to be one of the game’s most memorable figures, was the kind of player whose exploits off the field made him worthy of being featured on both the front and back pages of sports newspapers. Messi, on the other hand, maintains a modest profile for someone who has won seven Ballon d’Or awards and virtually every team trophy that there is to win. Messi has won the most trophies in the history of the event.
The connection between Messi and Maradona has been made ever since Messi broke onto the scene as a fresh-faced teenager at Barcelona back in 2004. This comparison is made due to the fact that both Messi and Maradona are from Argentina and have similar abilities when they have the ball at their feet.
Both played for the Blaugrana at the iconic Camp Nou stadium, but it was Messi who was the star of the show for Barcelona. With 672 goals and 266 assists, he changed the way supporters thought about what constituted a ‘successful’ season, and he took contemporary football to places that fans never imagined they would see.
And yet, despite all of his extraordinary efforts back in Spain, Messi was routinely harassed by accusations from supporters that he couldn’t recreate his club heroics for his nation. This was despite the fact that Messi was the best player in the world at his position. The consistent failure of Argentina to perform well at international competitions such as the Copa America and the World Cup has only served to amplify the nation’s growing dissatisfaction.
Many people believed that Messi would never be able to earn the title of best player of all time if he did not lead his country to victory at the World Cup, as Maradona had done in 1986. However, other people were of the opinion that Messi did not need to win the tournament in order to enter the discussion over who is the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of boots.
Maradona was of the opinion that Messi’s standing as one of the finest players had already been established, regardless of whether or not Argentina won the World Cup.
The late and great Argentine offered the following explanation: “Alone, he will not be able to win the World Cup.” “For that, you’re going to need a strong team. Messi will go down in football history as a legend.
“Football has given him a lot, as much as he has given the sport, and to win a World Cup, in my opinion, wouldn’t bring himself anything else,” he said. “The sport has given him as much as he has given it.”
Maradona was robbed of the opportunity to witness Lionel Messi finally get the monkey off his back and win the World Cup. Qatar 2022 is the next tournament in which Messi will compete. At that point, he had already said his goodbyes to Barcelona and was working for Paris Saint-Germain, having made the transfer there in the summer of 2021. He was doing his job for them.
Maradona passed away in November 2020 at the age of 60 following a heart attack that occurred at his residence in Buenos Aires. After learning of his passing, Messi posted a heartfelt homage to him on Instagram.
The following was written in his post: “A very sad day for all Argentinians and for football.” Because Diego is everlasting, even though he is leaving us, he will never really be gone.
“I’ll keep all of the beautiful moments I lived with him and I wanted to take this opportunity to send my condolences to all of his family and friends,” she said. “I’ll keep all of the beautiful moments I lived with him.” RIP.”