Messi looks finished

Maradona was more influential in the Argentinian team than Messi has been so far , so there is no comparison in that respect, Messi achievements come for playing for Barcelona which at club level he undoubtedly has more success.
Maradona was never as prolific for club or country (well, I suppose aside from world cups). If Messi wins this World Cup I think it surpasses Diego and leaves him firmly at the top of the tree. Obviously the Pele argument will always exist but how many of us can actually remember his exploits pre-1970?
 
Maradona was more influential in the Argentinian team than Messi has been so far , so there is no comparison in that respect, Messi achievements come for playing for Barcelona which at club level he undoubtedly has more success.

I think that's only really true for the 1986 World Cup.

He played for Argentina for 17 years, in 8 cups, he wasn't more influential in 7 of them.

For Argentina in cup competitions:

Maradona - 34 appearances, 12 goals (5 in 1986), 8 assists (5 in 1986).
Messi - 56 appearances, 21 goals, 25 assists.

Unless Argentina win it this year, which looks very unlikely right now, he'll always be in the shadow of Maradona for Argentina because of that trophy and that 1986 performance, but I think over their full career it's not really that close.
 
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I think that's only really true for the 1986 World Cup.

He played for Argentina for 17 years, in 8 cups, he wasn't more influential in 7 of them.

For Argentina in cup competitions:

Maradona - 34 appearances, 12 goals (5 in 1986), 8 assists (5 in 1986).
Messi - 56 appearances, 21 goals, 25 assists.

Unless Argentina win it this year, which looks very unlikely right now, he'll always be in the shadow of Maradona for Argentina because of that trophy and that 1986 performance, but I think over their full career it's not really that close.
He took them to the final in 1990 as well, no mean achievement, they were rubbish as a team but it is his individual brilliance in the semi against Brazil which genuinely scared the Brazil defence and his brilliant pass to his strike partner that set up the matches only goal. They didn't deserve to win the world cup because overall they were a nasty cheating team but his skill shone out, so add 90 to that list. Don't compare them at intl level Messi doesn't touch Maradona,, I see the stats but Maradona is way above Messi in World Cup lore, Messi is ok but he's nothing on Maradona on his overall impact.
 
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