Abu Dhabi: Drawing comparisons between Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi is “hateful” and Messi must “continue fighting” to try to emulate his compatriot’s World Cup-winning feats.
That’s the view of Jorge Burruchaga, the former Argentina midfielder, who won the 1986 World Cup alongside Maradona.
Messi has failed to win a major title with his country apart from the 2008 Olympics – losing three straight finals at the 2014 World Cup and 2015 and 2016 Copa America.
For some, this means Messi cannot be considered better than Maradona in the pantheon of great footballers – despite having won a multitude of club and individual honours with Barcelona.
But Burruchaga told Gulf News: “Comparison is a bad thing. In Argentina, we used to say it’s a hateful thing to do.
“It’s a different time, a different era, with different technology. The important thing here is both of them are Argentinians. In the last 50 years, surely the two most important players are Argentinians.”
It has also been suggested that many Argentinians do not truly consider Messi to be one of them, given that he moved to Barcelona at a young age, while cherishing Maradona’s rise from poverty to become a national idol.
But Burruchaga, who scored the winning goal in the 1986 World Cup final against West Germany, does not accept this. Speaking at the official opening of Maradona’s Abu Dhabi restaurant Cafe Diego, he said: “Argentinian people really want Messi to win the World Cup and win the same as Barcelona. He needs to continue fighting.”
An emotional Messi quit international football after Argentina lost on penalties to Chile in the Copa America final last June. He missed a penalty in the shootout, but reversed his retirement decision two months later.
Burruchaga was “convinced” Messi would perform a U-turn, though, and is delighted he did.
“Messi is very important for the Argentinian national team. Maybe it was not the best moment to make that declaration after a hot situation in the final.”
