FIFA World Cup 2010: There is only one Diego Maradonna.
Lionel Messi, has repeatedly been compared to the Argentinean Legend, Diego Maradonna, or ‘El Diego’ as some people call him, throughout his career. Messi has always been assumed to the heir to Maradona’s Throne. As most people would agree after watching the FIFA 2010 World Cup, these comparisons are futile and ludicrous. By comparing Messi or any other player to the greatness of Maradona is a crime and an injustice to the man himself.
Argentina’s 2010 World Cup campaign started in dramatic fashion, with the Argentines qualifying in the last minute of the last game. This is the exact same way the Argentina, of 1986 qualified for the finals. The image of the Argentinean squad back then was, Diego Maradonna. Arguably Maradonna is the greatest player the game has ever or will ever see. Diego Maradonna, who is currently managing the Argentinean squad has given his throne as the golden boy of Argentinean football, to Lionel Messi.
But has Messi really fulfilled the requirements needed, to be recognized as the official heir to the greatest throne in footballing history? The answer is unfortunately, no. Messi without a doubt oozes talent from every part of his body, he has scored countless goals, turned games around and performed to the maximum that a person can possibly perform. But what we need to keep in mind is that Messi has been doing all of this at club level, with Barcelona. The squad that Barcelona have allows almost any player to shine whilst playing.
Maradona on the other hand, was playing in the roughest and toughest leagues in the world. The referees offered no protection to the players from rough fouls or harsh tackles, they would just ask the players to get up and get on with it. That is exactly what ‘El Diego’ did, he got up and got on with it, he carried the entire team on his back, whether it was his club or country he didn’t care, he gave it his all and the way he performed was just ridiculously amazing. He seemed to be unstoppable and almost not human at times. And although Messi has the ability to change the face of the game in an instant, the way the game is played now a days will never allow us to ever really be able to tell who is better than the other.
Coming back to the World Cup, in 1986 Diego Maradona had a far weaker team then the one Lionel Messi was playing with. Arguably the only big name in the 1986 team was that of Maradona himself, whereas the team Messi had was packed with superstars left and right, Tevez, Mascherano, Veron and Aguerro were just some of these stars. Everyone including Maradona expected Messi to surpass him, but clearly that was not the case.
When the flashy, attacking Argentina met with Germany in the quarter finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, they were faced with their biggest challenge of the whole tournament, everyone including Messi, crumbled in front of this well rigged German side. On the other hand when Maradona faced West Germany in 1986 he rose to the occasion and took his team from crumbling to lifting the trophy that year.
What this proves is the fact that Maradona is by far the greatest player Argentina has ever proved, even though he has been supporting Messi and urging him to go on and break all his records, Maradona has always known that he would never be able to match or live up to the greatness of El Diego.
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