Messi will go down as the best in history and rightly so. His record is just on another planet even compared Cristiano. Ronaldo looked after himself to peak for Champions League and big games, however Messi has done it year in year out on a more consistent basis. Even at the weekend he is still doing it. It’s so hard to compare eras, however Maradona came into the toughest league in the world at the time and turned also rans in two time title winners. At the same time he did the same with his country to win a World Cup. They were terrible in previous World Cup. Over that 5 year period 85-90, he was on another planet. If Messi had gotten that World Cup in 2014, there would be no debate but that lack of World Cup will always be something that will be brought up in these discussions. More recently club football has surpassed international football as the barometer of greatness. Pele was the greatest for a long time as he spearheaded unbelievable World Cup teams, Franz Beckenbaur was Germany captain, Zidane scored two in a final, Bobby Moore in there as England captain. In fact if you asked people for World XI from last century most of them would have won a World Cup or at least played in a final. Of the top of my head, this would a lot of people’s best teams Zoff, Carlos Alberto, Benkenbaur, Moore, Maldini Cyruff, De Stéfano, Garrincha, Zidane Pele, Maradona maybe Yashin as keeper, Cafu as right back. The game now is based on Club football largely. Germany and France had some good players winning recent world cups however doubt many of them would get in a team of the century globally. Xavi and Iniesta would be in there probably as much for club football as winning international tournaments. anyway, Virgil was robbed
I think as the years have progressed the quality of the teams Maradonna was part of in his peak years have gotten worse and worse. I dont think anybody will argue that Argentina or Napoli team would of had that success without him they were no mugs either. Anyway,the best bit about the Ballon D'or is the mental voting from some journalists. The Sri Lankan journalist votes 1.Alexander Arnold 2.Aubamayeng 3.Griezman 4.Lewandowski 5.Ter Stegen I love to see it
Did you watch the recent Maradona documentary that was in cinema? Having watched that my admiration for what Maradona achieved grew even more. The pressure on him was unreal.
Yeah,it was incredible mate but my point is that everybody elses contribution shouldn't be diminished for Maradonas legacy which is what I think has happened down the years. What percentage of dootball fans do you reckon could name the goalscorers in the 86 world cup final? Id say it's pretty low and Napoli lost 3 league games in 86/87 with Maradona scoring 10 goals. You can't do that in the toughest league in the world without the squad stepping up.
I remember a guy call Brown scored in the final for Argentina, and we (the Irish) quickly tried to claim him as of Irish decent. Think it turned out his family moved to Argentina from Scotland (many years previously)
Agree 100%. He carried the team to the WC in 1986. Almost did it again in Italia 90 but had a bit of help that time! There has traditionally been a big Irish influence in Argentina. William Brown (from Mayo) founded their navy in 1800s. Higgins is still a big name there in the NW of the country. Chilean national hero & liberator (not libero!) Bernardo O'Higgins was of Irish stock also.
For some reason I like watching ESPN FC on BT. Mostly because Stevie Nicol and Craig Burley having wobblies. They came up with a very good point about VVD not winning the Balon D'Or, thay said, and its very hard to argue against it, that big Virgil suffered as a result of being in the best team in world football atm. Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, Bobby Firmino, Alisson, TAA and Gigi all got votes from the writers/pundits - whoever it is that has the say in it which split the votes that VVD may have got, whereas Messi was basically carrying Barca for the past 12 months on his lonesome and so didnt have to "share" his votes with another star from a (his) big name team. Still, tough to only have the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th (and 2 more in the teens) best players in the world...what to do what to do
Had that final on a recorded VHS and used to watch it all the time. The scoreline is a bit misleading,it wasnt a great match. Valdano and Burachaga got the other two goals. Rumenigge and Voeller for Germany.
You don't really hear of many head the balls these days. I'd say it's safe to assume the modern game would have kept them both away from the substances that ultimately done them.
Theres just as many head the balls these days as there was at any other time and probably even more temptation. A 17 year old can be earning 3 or 4 grand a week before hes gotten a sniff of the first team and has more time on his hands than young players in the past would of.The big difference is you cant abuse substances and perform in the modern game so the head the balls more often than not wash out before they gain enough of a profile for the wider world to care. I cant assess the reason for George Bests or Maradonas addictions but the modern game isn't short of temptations and pitfalls for players more inclined to fall foul of them. I think a lot of people would be surprised at the level of recreational cocaine use among modern footballers. I remember reading an interview with an addiction councillor who worked with sportspeople and he said the assertion that Alex Ferguson could have saved Gazza from himself always annoyed him. He saw it as a mixture of ignorance and arrogance on Fergusons behalf.
What I meant was the likes of Maradona is a lot more likely to be behaving like Messi does because of the environment today's players live in, equally Messi was much more likely to end up a coke head if he was kicking ball in the eighties. With Gazza, I think if he is around today he doesn't end up a raving alcoholic. The culture of drink isn't there to experience in the first place, I'd guess 85% of the underage players at Liverpool have never had a drink, 30 years ago that figure would have 0.85% because we had a religious or alcohol intolerant player on the books. If he had of joined Utd then he was joining a culture of booze and most likely would have ended up the same way.
Its apples & oranges lads. In the 60s, 70s & 80s, most players in the Football League were British and Irish. When Ossie & Ricky signed for Spurs in 78, it was like aliens had landed! I remember Avi Cohen playing for Liverpool, Jovanovic for United, Tarantini for Brum and others. But they were few and far between. I went to see "Escape to Victory" in 81 when all the Ipswich lads were in it and cheering because "Kevin O'Callaghan Eire" came up at the end. It had the Ipswich Dutch lads and Deyna from City and a few others. On the back of Shoot each week, there was a "focus on ............" article, a 20 questions answered by a pro. Most weeks, favourite food & drink reply was "Steak & lager"!! The game was slower but harder. Players like Mark Dennis, Trevor Horlock and even Souness would snap you in two. And get away with it when Souey broke the jaw of a Bucharest player in 78! Maradona was sublime. But nuts and clearly led an active off-field life. George was, for me, the most natural. And Irish! Messi joined Barca at 14 with his whole family and was tutored in the Barca way from an early age. Ian Wright worked on a building site into his 20s! But for every Rivelino, Rummenige, Paltini, Brady etc, we had wonderful players in the 90s and up to the present day. Which is the best Ronaldo? Gerrard or Platini? George or Messi? Maradona or Ronaldo? Berkcamp or Brady? Gullit, Van Basten, Iniesta, McGrath, Maldini etc. The list could go on. And the biggest one. Keegan or Dalglish!!!! All fabulous players. Impossible to call but we all have our favourites. It was a pleasure to see them play. Some of them live such as Gullit etc. The beauty of footie!!
I was reading an article this morning where there's a bit of outrage in Senegal that Mane didn't win the thing. Apparently they're not happy with African journalists using their votes for non African players. The bloody politics of this award seem more complicated than the Eurovision.