Maradona is the greatest footballer there has ever been in my opinion.

comment by Franko Cantona 🏆 for ego only (U22187)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Arteta OUT!!! (U7482)
posted 24 seconds ago
comment by Franko Cantona 🏆 for ego only (U22187)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Brian Easton (U1734)
posted 1 minute ago
Here's a good one. How about 21 year old Ronaldo vs 21 year old C.Ronaldo? Although I imagine that one is a bit more clear cut at 21
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Rooney at 21 was as good as anybody at 16 he was better than anybody at that age, best teenage player I have ever seen
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I saw Messi in his teens at Barca every week. He was still comfortably better than a teenage Rooney.

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Maybe you didn’t see the teenage Rooney he was like a Tasmanian Devil just unplayable from my recollection it took Messi a while to establish himself at Barca
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I did. As an Arsenal fan, I remember pretty vividly his breakthrough wonderstrike against Arsenal. He was amazing. Just not like Messi was. I had never seen anything like Messi when he emerged as a teenager. I still remember him dancing around Chelsea's defense and their left back Del Horno lashed out in frustration at the long torment and got red carded.

comment by ●Billy The Spur● 20*21*22* ENIC OUT! (U3924)
posted 30 seconds ago
Maradona is the greatest footballer there has ever been in my opinion.
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So this confirms it then. Messi it is.

comment by Bobby Dazzler (U1449)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Arteta OUT!!! (U7482)
posted 4 minutes ago
comment by Bobby Dazzler (U1449)
posted 39 minutes ago
Be interesting to see how many years Messi’s career would be cut short by if he was regularly being kicked from one end of a football field to another, and I don’t mean the trips which normally send him sprawling, I mean the attempted leg breakers which were so common before tackling was outlawed
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I've watched Argentina's matches against England, Belgium and West Germany from the '86 World Cup and didn't see so many of these leg breakers. Yes, tackling is more heavily penalized today, but there are far too many exaggerations about all the leg breaking tackles Maradona was jumping over in every match.

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So because you never saw it in 3 games it wasn’t happening?
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I didn't say it wasn't happening. I'm saying the frequency of it is much exaggerated. I remember having this argument with a Spurs fan talking about leg breakers in the 60's and the bog pitches etc.....yet, teams were closing entire 46-match league seasons with a roster of 14 players.

comment by Sheriff John Brown - Arteta OUT!!! (U7482)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Bobby Dazzler (U1449)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Arteta OUT!!! (U7482)
posted 4 minutes ago
comment by Bobby Dazzler (U1449)
posted 39 minutes ago
Be interesting to see how many years Messi’s career would be cut short by if he was regularly being kicked from one end of a football field to another, and I don’t mean the trips which normally send him sprawling, I mean the attempted leg breakers which were so common before tackling was outlawed
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I've watched Argentina's matches against England, Belgium and West Germany from the '86 World Cup and didn't see so many of these leg breakers. Yes, tackling is more heavily penalized today, but there are far too many exaggerations about all the leg breaking tackles Maradona was jumping over in every match.

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So because you never saw it in 3 games it wasn’t happening?
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I didn't say it wasn't happening. I'm saying the frequency of it is much exaggerated. I remember having this argument with a Spurs fan talking about leg breakers in the 60's and the bog pitches etc.....yet, teams were closing entire 46-match league seasons with a roster of 14 players.

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I don’t think it is exaggerated, pitches as late as the mid 80’s were atrocious at times esp in winter, and fouling was something that went on a lot in the 70’s/80’s and not always punished, to suggest it’s not much worse than today is laughable

Playets did not have hamstrings ore meta-tarsulz oar ACLs etc in old days

The only injury was a broken leg

comment by ●Billy The Spur● 20*21*22* ENIC OUT! (U3924)
posted 13 minutes ago
Maradona is the greatest footballer there has ever been in my opinion.
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Right now I’d say Pele is No.1

But Messi or CR7 could take the crown if they win the World Cup this year.

Also a little tired of the narrative of how Maradona took relegation battling Napoli "single handedly" to the title against mighty giants Milan and Juve. Napoli was a consistent top 6 Italian through the late 70's and early 80's - finishing as high as 3rd - before they bought Maradona in '84. They also made some other big signings at the time to strengthen the squad. Hellas Veronas and Sampdoria won the only Scudetti in their history around that time, but there's no one of Maradona's profile to claim that he won the title single-handed for those teams.

comment by Bobby Dazzler (U1449)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Arteta OUT!!! (U7482)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Bobby Dazzler (U1449)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Arteta OUT!!! (U7482)
posted 4 minutes ago
comment by Bobby Dazzler (U1449)
posted 39 minutes ago
Be interesting to see how many years Messi’s career would be cut short by if he was regularly being kicked from one end of a football field to another, and I don’t mean the trips which normally send him sprawling, I mean the attempted leg breakers which were so common before tackling was outlawed
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I've watched Argentina's matches against England, Belgium and West Germany from the '86 World Cup and didn't see so many of these leg breakers. Yes, tackling is more heavily penalized today, but there are far too many exaggerations about all the leg breaking tackles Maradona was jumping over in every match.

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So because you never saw it in 3 games it wasn’t happening?
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I didn't say it wasn't happening. I'm saying the frequency of it is much exaggerated. I remember having this argument with a Spurs fan talking about leg breakers in the 60's and the bog pitches etc.....yet, teams were closing entire 46-match league seasons with a roster of 14 players.

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I don’t think it is exaggerated, pitches as late as the mid 80’s were atrocious at times esp in winter, and fouling was something that went on a lot in the 70’s/80’s and not always punished, to suggest it’s not much worse than today is laughable
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You love strawman arguments, don't you. Who said the pitches and tackles aren't much worse? I said the frequency is exaggerated. Players were not launching into leg breakers with anything like the frequency that is portrayed. Seen plenty of matches from 60's World Cups all the way to today and I found it remarkable how how "fair" the game was back then considering the reputation. One of the few outliers being the Portuguese hacking of Pele in '66.

Will echo what billy said. I have seen no greater player than Maradona. Messi is great but it was the sheer unpredictability of Maradona that was magic and that centre of gravity. Messi has the stats but I remember the joy of watching the craft and guile of Maradona, even though he wasn’t that likeable. He could change the course of a match in the blink of an eye but you could say the same about both. Hats off to both.

comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by ●Billy The Spur● 20*21*22* ENIC OUT! (U3924)
posted 13 minutes ago
Maradona is the greatest footballer there has ever been in my opinion.
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Right now I’d say Pele is No.1

But Messi or CR7 could take the crown if they win the World Cup this year.
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Never understood this argument. If Messi or Ronaldo play a bit part in a world cup win this year then it shouldn't enhance their status too much. It is like when they were calling for Jorginho to win Ballon D'Or.

Because it’s obvious and this is well documented even now.

….

Well documented by who? I have never seen anyone of note come out and say talents like Best and Maradona would not have that talent in todays game.

comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 4 minutes ago
Because it’s obvious and this is well documented even now.

….

Well documented by who? I have never seen anyone of note come out and say talents like Best and Maradona would not have that talent in todays game.
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I think you are on the WUM

The most impressive youngster of all time was fat Ronaldo. Truly phenomenal in his early yeatrs

comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 4 minutes ago
Because it’s obvious and this is well documented even now.

….

Well documented by who? I have never seen anyone of note come out and say talents like Best and Maradona would not have that talent in todays game.
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I think you are on the WUM
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I know you are not as you are displaying your usual ignorance of football.

Just for your info football before this current era still had tactics.

Maradona for me. Just for his charisma. He's in the same bracket as Cantona for me in that regard. You'd love to see him doing his thing at OT in his prime

comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 16 minutes ago
Because it’s obvious and this is well documented even now.

….

Well documented by who? I have never seen anyone of note come out and say talents like Best and Maradona would not have that talent in todays game.
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Yeh I've never understood that argument. They playing on cow fields and making it look easy.

Messi great
Maradona better
George Best

comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 7 minutes ago
comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Vidicschin (U3584)
posted 4 minutes ago
Because it’s obvious and this is well documented even now.

….

Well documented by who? I have never seen anyone of note come out and say talents like Best and Maradona would not have that talent in todays game.
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I think you are on the WUM
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I know you are not as you are displaying your usual ignorance of football.

Just for your info football before this current era still had tactics.

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Because I never said anything about how much talent they had, I just said what they excelled at with their talent suits different game states. You made up a completely different conversation because you are easily confused.

comment by Brian Easton (U1734)
posted 18 minutes ago
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by ●Billy The Spur● 20*21*22* ENIC OUT! (U3924)
posted 13 minutes ago
Maradona is the greatest footballer there has ever been in my opinion.
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Right now I’d say Pele is No.1

But Messi or CR7 could take the crown if they win the World Cup this year.
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Never understood this argument. If Messi or Ronaldo play a bit part in a world cup win this year then it shouldn't enhance their status too much. It is like when they were calling for Jorginho to win Ballon D'Or.
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The argument is underpinned by the fact that their sides couldn't possibly win if they only play a bit part.

comment by Marmalade123 (U22831)
posted 24 minutes ago
Will echo what billy said. I have seen no greater player than Maradona. Messi is great but it was the sheer unpredictability of Maradona that was magic and that centre of gravity. Messi has the stats but I remember the joy of watching the craft and guile of Maradona, even though he wasn’t that likeable. He could change the course of a match in the blink of an eye but you could say the same about both. Hats off to both.
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I'm not quite sure what craft, guile and unpredictability Maradona has that Messi doesn't. In my opinion, what works against Messi is the media saturation. We got to see him doing his stuff every weeknight on Sky that we grew somewhat numb to the brilliance of regularly skewering 2 or 3 defenders and burying one in the corner, or cutting inside onto his left foot and delivering a brilliant through ball.

If you want a don't know anything about their futures view then there's a case for Maradona but if you've got the hindsight info then you won't touch him with a bargepole.

Pele had a long and distinguished career but shone for us in Europe only in world cups.

Maradona and best were with respect flawed geniuses.

Messi for the magic. Ronaldo for the technique and obsession to succeed.

In the end who really cares who is the greatest, we've seen all these players and shod be glad to have seen them all.

This is easy to answer: Maradona!!!

Maradona won serie A with an average Napoli side twice ….

It would be like Messi winning La Liga with Valencia.

Maradona single handedly won the World Cup with a very average Argentina.

Messi has never done it on the world stage…

He’s only played in an out of this world Barcelona team.

Maradona is the greatest I’ve ever seen!!

The 2th Napoli scudetto win was a VERY strong team

Messi.