RobRoyalTBM Whats your point?
Messi hasn't won those competitions single handedly, like Maradona basically did in the 86 WC
That's a popular myth. He was in a team that conceded 3 goals in 6 games leading up to the final - was he responsible for their tight defending? They were also seriously assisted by fortune - they played two teams in the knock-out stages who had come 3rd out of 4 in the group stage (Belguim and Uruguay, who won a single game between them all tournament long) and we know about the fortune required to beat England.
Anyway, my point is that you can't separate players out of the context they played in, and by all objective measures Messi is achieving more individually and with his team than Maradona did - with the exception of not winning a world cup. I find the idea that Messi needs to win a world cup (which is something largely out of his control), or go and play for a worse club to prove he's the best, a bit bizarre.
For the record before now Maradona has always been my vote for the game's best player, based largely on seeing his amazing technique in old clips - not old enough to remember him playing except for the debacles of 1990 and 1994.
Im not denying Messi isn't great but he has only done this at a VERY good Barcalona team........if he moved to another country for another team, would he achieve the same? - also why can't he reproduce the form he shows for Barca for Argentina?
Maradona has done this, Messi hasn't..........come back in 4 years time and no doubt it will be Messi all day long, but at the moment i still think Maradona shades it. Does Messi carry Barcalona like Maradona carried teams?