Maradona says there is nothing to choose
from between Real Madrid and Barcelona
rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The stellar pair’s ongoing rivalry has
dominated the footballing landscape this
decade, perhaps taking the baton from
Maradona’s own dispute with Brazilian great
Pele over which of them is the sport’s
greatest player.
Having emerged from the cursed shadow of a
‘next Maradona’ to establish his own legend,
Messi has won eight Liga titles and four
Champions Leagues in 12 years as a senior
Barcelona player.
Ronaldo, a four-time league champion in
England and Spain as well as three-time
Champions League winner, seized a crucial
advantage over Messi in the race to be this
era’s greatest this year as he captained
Portugal to Euro 2016 glory.
Messi has lost all four of his major finals with
Argentina and reversed a retirement after
going down to Chile in this year’s Copa
America finale, but Maradona maintains the
Barca star remains at Ronaldo’s side.
“These two are superior to the rest. Messi
isn’t better than Cristiano Ronaldo and vice
versa,†Maradona told Marca. “Ronaldo
always shows great passion and, honestly, it
bores me to repeat that Messi doesn’t have to
win a World Cup to be a phenomenon. Enough
of that!
“If you don’t have personality, and don’t sing
the national anthem, then you should be left
alone. The kid had every right to retire from
the national side in the summer, and then he
returns and still gets criticized!â€
International success makes Ronaldo favorite
for this year’s Ballon d’Or, a fourth win would
take him one behind Messi’s record tally of
five.
However, Maradona said of the award: “For
me, the Ballon d’Or is not accurate. For
example in 2014 Manuel Neuer was a finalist
with Messi and Ronaldo. The German should
have won, he’d just lifted the World Cup!â€
Messi’s club mate Neymar has emerged as a
potential pretender to the Argentine and
Ronaldo’s throne and Maradona admitted he
revels in watching the Brazilian play.
“Ronaldo and Messi are no longer in a two-
horse race, there are three running to win,†he
said. “I knew that Brazil wasn’t going to stand
by after Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaka, then
Neymar emerged and entertains everyone.
“I love watching him play, you can kick him
200 times and he’ll still run at the defense
again and again.â€
