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Bloomberg
Why Maradona was better than Messi and Ronaldo
(Bloomberg Opinion) – Football fans are fortunate to live in an era when two superstars simultaneously claim to be the best player in the history of the sport – and even luckier that we can watch the contest between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo play , week after week, live in front of a global audience of billions. Thanks to YouTube I can watch high quality videos of their most compelling performances and every goal they have ever scored.When Diego Maradona claimed the title of best of all time, most countries in the world could not get that quadrennial. glimpse of his genius, when he showed up for Argentina in the 82, 86, 90 and 94 World Cups. Growing up in India during this time, I have never seen the highlights of his performances for the FC Barcelona or Naples (a city where it is still considered a part of the divinity, a part of the royalty). There are now a few video clips online that preserve a grainy record of him in his glory – including THAT goal against England at Azteca Stadium on June 22, 1986. But these only suggest what he was capable of. They are not sufficient evidence to support the argument that he was the best ever, which further complicates matters is the even rarer evidence for claimants from previous generations: Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, Spain and Argentina Alfredo di Stefano, the Brazilian Pele, the Dutch. Johan Cruyff, the German Franz Beckenbauer, et al. The fact that they played under different conditions and rules, and in different positions, makes the argument moot anyway.We can’t, then, know if Maradona was technically the best for kicking a ball. . Nonetheless, I’m here to argue that he was the greatest of all time. And my case is based on the simple fact that he, more than any of the other contenders named here, has been the closest to defying the saying that football is a team sport.For most of his career, Maradona has played in teams that failed to beat the world. players. Go through the roster of the Napoli squad he conquered Italian football with in 1986-87, and there isn’t a single other player who would reach a Serie A hall of fame. He had a supporting cast. slightly better in Argentina teams than he took to two World Cup finals – winning it in 86 and coming excruciatingly close in 90 – but no one would say Jorge Valdano was in Maradona what, say, Jairzinho was to Pelé in 70. It’s one thing to be a brilliant player surrounded by other brilliant players; In this regard, Messi and Ronaldo have been exceptionally lucky with their club teams. But Maradona made magic out of mediocre materials, what makes him even more remarkable is the weight of expectation he carried on his little mount. When he signed for Napoli in 1984, the club had never won the Italian league, and yet his fans immediately began to dream of championship glory. The “pibe de oro”, or golden boy, was as much a talisman as a captain and a player. Other footballers – Messi among them – have since faced comparable pressure, but modern superstars are surrounded by a scaffolding of public relations professionals and psychiatrists. to help them. Maradona, lacking support off the pitch like he did on him, nonetheless delivered the ‘oro’ for club and country time and time again. It was probably inevitable that the burdens of his genius would eventually crush him, and they did so in spectacular fashion. But he resisted them long enough to sink the bronze – like the plaque commemorating THAT goal outside the Azteca Stadium – his claim to be the greatest of all time. RIP, Diego Armando Maradona, GOAT. (Corrects the name of the 1970 Pelé team player in the seventh paragraph.) This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board or Bloomberg LP and its owners Bobby Ghosh is an opinion columnist for Bloomberg . He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and Africa. For more articles like this please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most reliable source of business information. © 2020 Bloomberg LP
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