Maradona says Messi better than Ronaldo
Argentine coach Diego Maradona on Friday rated Lionel Messi as the best player in the world, rather than FIFA choice Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Obviously Messi is the best player in the world,” said the 1986 world champion.
“They gave me the accolade as the best when I was 26 – look at Messi’s age (just 21).
“They gave me the golden ball after a lot of time had elapsed. So just think how many Golden Balls Messi can get if he keeps his head down,” said Maradona.
He added that as it is the convention that coaches of national sides do not vote for a compatriot “I voted for Cristiano Ronaldo – we couldn’t vote for Argentines,” explained Maradona.
Ronaldo duly topped the poll last week after his exploits in winning the Champions League and the English Premiership with Manchester United.
In contrast, Messi’s Barcelona under-achieved and ended the campaign empty-handed.
Maradona was speaking after returning from a trip to Europe to check on his squad.
© AAP 2013The Crowd Says (2) | Page 1 of Comments
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January 17th 2009 @ 1:05pm
Ignatius said | January 17th 2009 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
He is not saying nothing new.
January 18th 2009 @ 7:26pm
edwina said | January 18th 2009 @ 7:26pm | Report comment
if messi was the best footballer of the year then obviously he would have gt the award, soo if cristiano ronaldo gt it then obviously hes mch better than messi. Maradonna said that he gt the accolade wen he was 26, bt cristiano gt it wen he is only 23, this shows the kind of player ronalde is and hes aslo the 1st player 4rm an english club to gt it soo theirs no reason in sayin that messi is better than ronaldo and this is decided by a panal of judges nt just 1 person soo he gt it this proves that hes the BEST messi is gd bt nt the fifa player of the year