Maradona was my generation watching footballer. So, to me, he is the greatest footballer of my generation
I disliked Maradona when he scored the ‘hand of God’ goal, but grudgingly respected him when he scored the 2nd spectacular goal. My Dad said, if I was a true football fan, i needed to appreciate pure genius of a person like Maradona despite his flaws.
After watching the Maradona documentary by Asif Kapadia, my opinion of him changed. Maradona was a mad genius and a tortured soul who was unfairly exploited by many scyphohants. His heart was in the right place and his heart was just to enjoy and play football.
I am so lucky to have witnessed his wizdardry and grace and he gave joy to all football fans around the world.
RIP Diego Armando Maradona, you are now in the hands of God.
I think when I saw the film they made about him it was in Italy he started because of the pressures of playing and the Papparazzi plus the involvement of the local mafias who supplied him it and more or less controlled him with it but even on the pitch he got hacked down with impunity both in Spain and in Italy in fact I read somewhere that he said that Messi should thank him for not getting battered like he did as it would not be tolerated now
He was a big media personality, but his glory days were really right at the end of an era, where sports stars were mostly stars on the pitch rather than tabloid figures. Globally, his foibles in Napoli did not get anything like the coverage they would today.
It was a brilliant, notorious performance from the legendary Diego Maradona - and you will be able to experience it again, or enjoy it for the first time, on the BBC.
The date? 22 June 1986. The venue? Estadio Azteca, Mexico City. The game? Argentina v England in the World Cup quarter-final.
There will also be an accompanying live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app for you to share your thoughts on the classic game and join the wider conversation.
The match will ‘kick off’ at 17:00 GMT.
The full replay will only be available in the UK, with the live text commentary available worldwide
Just the other day said to the lad, while he was reading his footy mag with all this Messi GOAT shit, tekkers, and whatever else, that Messi couldn’t hold a candle to Maradona.
Maybe of that generation, but I have never been of the opinion that Maradona was the GOAT. In 10yrs of European football he only had 328 appearances (inc cups) between Sevilla, Barca and Napoli. That an average of missing every 3rd game
He was a footballing genius, of that there is not doubt. But like George Best he was weighted down by his dark side and unable to really fulfill his potential.
Genius of a player and a legend of the game,i always followed and supported him as a kid,even more so when i found out he came from a country that had the 3rd largest welsh speaking community outside of Wales,Nos da Diego.
Does that include the eighteen month ban at the end of it?
That’d fairly skew it.
Regardless, no one could argue he’s more consistent than Messi, he blatantly wasn’t.
What he was though, was mystical, untouchable,
Not Messi’s fault, but Messi could never be that untouchable, he could never be so godlike simply because there’s just too much sanitised rehearsed scrutiny nowadays…
You can’t pick one out of any era and compare, just as Maradona might have never been disciplined enough to make it in 2020, Messi might not have been tough enough to make it in the late 70’s … it’s impossible to really compare
Maradona (and pele) also benefitted from an era when international football WAS the ultimate grading.
6 games could define you. But that also bought the pressure of those six games.
Look at Mbappe, it hardly registers a footnote the 2018 World Cup exploits.
Basically Maradona ruled football when it could be ruled by more than just stats, when winning something meant a beer and a party, not an ice bath and a responsibility to keep conditioned.
It’s not a complaint or praise of either era, just a statement.
The statement being you can judge Messi by stats, you can’t judge Maradona by stats, it’s a modern metric plugged into an old fashioned era.
Cheers mate. Haven’t seen everything yet, but what strikes me is the sheer brutality of how he was dealt with, first in Spain, and then in Italy. Goicoetxea’s horrible attack on his leg stands out, but what he had to deal with in Italy was truly terrible.
That’s why there can’t be any comparison made with today’s attacking footballers, especially in terms of statistics of goals scored.
Messi or Ronaldo are highly protected nowadays, which allows them to score a lot and a lot more goals. That’s why they break all records. The genius of Maradona is that he managed to exert massive influence on games despite of having two or three dedicated players marking him at all times, with the aim to hack him down whenever they could, if possible for the rest of the season.
I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for him. Always a slight margin away from a leg-breaking tackle from behind… and that’s really why he’s the greatest of all times imo. He shone at a time during which football was devolving towards more and more brutality, with very little protection from the refs. He managed to adapt his game to the rough circumstances, and made himself more and more unpredictable for his watch dogs. In doing so, he eventually forced football to evolve in terms of tactics, going away from the principle of man marking towards zonal marking, and that’s what is beautiful about him too.
In comparison, Pelé being older than Maradona, hadn’t to cope with so much aggressiveness from defenders, and the great attacking players after Maradona have received much better protection from the refs, thankfully so.
