"I am not going to tolerate that people say Messi is not the phenomenon that he is because he did not win a World Cup," Maradona, who coached Messi at the 2010 World Cup, told TyC Sports.
"Messi is a great player, regardless of whether he won the World Cup or not. At the age of 56, I can say that I have never seen anyone like Messi. I thank God that Messi is an Argentine. We have Messi, the Pope and me...
"Why would we burden him with claims that he is not a phenomenon if he does not win the World Cup? I won it because I got to play with guys like [Ricardo] Giusti, [Jorge] Burruchaga, [Nery] Pumpido, [Oscar] Ruggeri and many more..."
http://www.espnfc.us/argentina/story/3046902/diego-maradona-defends-lionel-messis-lack-of-world-cup
http://www.tycsports.com/futbol/mar...a-y-que-la-copa-del-mundo-se-quede-en-la-fifa