Diego Armando Maradona Franco: How Great is he?

[XaviMessiGirl]

They could start with making FFP not such a joke, as punishing them with a fine or even a reduced squad for European competition is just a good laugh for those clubs. Banning clubs who violate FFP from the CL would be a more appropriate punishment that would be taken seriously. Or perhaps a transfer ban. That way, it doesn't hurt foreign players' opportunities abroad, and there are plenty of them that don't go for obscene prices anyway.

 

[Sterlingfan2000]

U cant compare messi and him. Back in those days dribbling was almost Impossible, ninja kicks and fouls everywhere, I think he is still the most fouled player in 1 Game. They couldnt get the ball from him,it was like the ball was glued into his feet, so they decides to foul him.

Messi and Maradonna played at different times,different football. Maradonna at peak was one of the best ever , maybe the best ever

 

[ejuventus]

he's more mythic than great

I used to watch him at Naples, at his best, and he was far away from the best other players of all time.
All his fame is due to Mexico 86, and for that he's worthy to be in the list of greatests .....but without the 2 matches vs England and Belgium, not many would know his name. But I repeat, those matches happened, so it's right to record him.

You often can heard that he won by himself in Naples.
That's not true.
his first year there, the team arrived 8th, while we had Verona and Torino FC as 1° and 2°: not exactly two superpowers.....and at that time, he was really only him.
Then the society started to buy good players....and the following year Napoli arrived a 3°.
Afterwards, there was a whole in Italy between the big teams, with Napoli getting a bit stronger again, and they gained their first title of history: but they were actually the favourites at the beginning.
After that year, Napoli spent more money to sign great footballers such Careca (best striker of the world at that time after Van basten), Alemao (midfielder of Brazil team) and some other italian internationals.

Maradona then had a top team around him........Napoli won a C. UEFA and another national league.
But they failed twice in Champions' Cup (once at first round, another in the second vs Spartak Moscow), and other times they went out in C.UEFA against poor teams (Tolouse and W. Brema).

It's interesting to remark that in the year of Napoli's first title , when most people say that Maradona won by himself, he scored 10 goals in 30 matches, whose 3 from penalties....and, probably, 1 or 2 by free kick.......so that, he scored only 5 goals from actions.
And he was a pure forward, with no apport in midfield and no great ability in assists.

In 27 appearance in European competitions with Napoli, he scored only 3 times on action, and none in UEFA Cup winning road in 1989.


So that, for me it's not even compairable to other greatests who have taken really their clubs on top of the world.
But he's got the highest peak for a footballer with his Mexico 1986.

Choose

 

[Gnidrologist]

What's wrong with foreigners? I mean it is nice when you are able to find worthy local players, of course it is, but there is nothing wrong with having foreign players if they're good enough. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this given all your past history on the forum.

There is something wrong with the fact that football in Europe is becoming the same melting pot that it will soon be culturally overall. No diversity, no difference in styles, mentality or tactical approach. Watching Italian club against Spanish or English one was more entertaining because of cultural clash and different vision of how the game should be played. Now all clubs, sans for few exceptions, play the same few templates, rarely having even half of their team comprised of domestic players. Funny thing that the same is slowly starting to happen to national teams and i envision that in 20-30 years we will see, say, team Greece or Sweden having full starting 11 made of brazilians, spaniards, nigerians and what not. It would cease to be competition between nations, just like it already has happened to club football.


To stay on topic. It's impossible to compare geniuses. Period. In terms of talent any of the potential GOATs are comparable and only their career success can be measured objectively. Why even make comparisons between Messi and Maradona, when we could as well make one with George Best. In terms of pure dribbling skill at least. Then again come likes of Croiff or Zidane, who's roles were entirely different.
I think that the efficiency of Maradona was quite low compared to other greats, he was moody and had cases of bad attitude both on and off the pitch, but as has been mentioned, his higher points overshadow most other players. Everyone will always remember the england goal not only as his personal best, but some sort of iconic milestone in the history of the game itself. It's hard to beat that sort of spontaneous self marketing.

 

[1611]

The notion that Maradona was the only worthy player at Napoli is quite ludicrous. There were also Ferrara, Alemao, Careca and by 89/90 Zola as well. Lots of others too.

Same with Argentina 86 as well. Him and Messi are my two GOATs, but no one can do it alone.

 

[StarLord]

he's more mythic than great

I used to watch him at Naples, at his best, and he was far away from the best other players of all time.
All his fame is due to Mexico 86, and for that he's worthy to be in the list of greatests .....but without the 2 matches vs England and Belgium, not many would know his name. But I repeat, those matches happened, so it's right to record him.

You often can heard that he won by himself in Naples.
That's not true.
his first year there, the team arrived 8th, while we had Verona and Torino FC as 1° and 2°: not exactly two superpowers.....and at that time, he was really only him.
Then the society started to buy good players....and the following year Napoli arrived a 3°.
Afterwards, there was a whole in Italy between the big teams, with Napoli getting a bit stronger again, and they gained their first title of history: but they were actually the favourites at the beginning.
After that year, Napoli spent more money to sign great footballers such Careca (best striker of the world at that time after Van basten), Alemao (midfielder of Brazil team) and some other italian internationals.

Maradona then had a top team around him........Napoli won a C. UEFA and another national league.
But they failed twice in Champions' Cup (once at first round, another in the second vs Spartak Moscow), and other times they went out in C.UEFA against poor teams (Tolouse and W. Brema).

It's interesting to remark that in the year of Napoli's first title , when most people say that Maradona won by himself, he scored 10 goals in 30 matches, whose 3 from penalties....and, probably, 1 or 2 by free kick.......so that, he scored only 5 goals from actions.
And he was a pure forward, with no apport in midfield and no great ability in assists.

In 27 appearance in European competitions with Napoli, he scored only 3 times on action, and none in UEFA Cup winning road in 1989.


So that, for me it's not even compairable to other greatests who have taken really their clubs on top of the world.
But he's got the highest peak for a footballer with his Mexico 1986.

Choose

Even though you are too harsh on Maradona, you raise some very valid points.

People like to think today that Napoli were some kind of mega-underdog (like for example Malaga are today in Spain) which definitely wasn't the case. In the first year (86/87) they won the Scudetto, Platini had declined badly (which prompted him to call it quits at the end of it) and the great AC Milan did not yet come into being (van Basten, Gullit and Reijkard were still in Holland) At the beginning of that season, Napoli were rightly considered to be the favorites for the title which the promptly won. In 87/88, Napoli were again the favorites, but AC Milan managed to upset them, despite van Basten missing most of the season due to his ankle injury. He only scored three goals that season (1 penaldo) with Gullit scoring 9 and Pietro Virdis scoring 11.

Moreover, people tend to view the football of the 80s (or that of any other era) through the prism of today's football. That is grossly misleading. Back then, there were no super-clubs with half a billion budget to hoard the best players under a few roofs. Back then, both league football and European football were far more egalitarian. Hence, the couple of foreigners that each team was allowed to have, were bound to have a massive influence on each and every team's fortunes.

 

[ejuventus]

Even though you are too harsh on Maradona, you raise some very valid points.

People like to think today that Napoli were some kind of mega-underdog (like for example Malaga are today in Spain) which definitely wasn't the case. In the first year (86/87) they won the Scudetto, Platini had declined badly (which prompted him to call it quits at the end of it) and the great AC Milan did not yet come into being (van Basten, Gullit and Reijkard were still in Holland) At the beginning of that season, Napoli were rightly considered to be the favorites for the title which the promptly won. In 87/88, Napoli were again the favorites, but AC Milan managed to upset them, despite van Basten missing most of the season due to his ankle injury. He only scored three goals that season (1 penaldo) with Gullit scoring 9 and Pietro Virdis scoring 11.

Moreover, people tend to view the football of the 80s (or that of any other era) through the prism of today's football. That is grossly misleading. Back then, there were no super-clubs with half a billion budget to hoard the best players under a few roofs. Back then, both league football and European football were far more egalitarian. Hence, the couple of foreigners that each team was allowed to have, were bound to have a massive influence on each and every team's fortunes.

agree

 

[khaled_a_d]

Tbh he had more grace bout him that a lot of players from right now, and his free kick skills were fucking bonkers. There are too many efficient machines now like Ronaldo, players are less attractive to watch. Not to mention Diego played in an era where guys tried to kill each other on the field, attacking players weren't a protected celebrity species like they are now... Man, Ronaldo and a lot of top stars from now wouldn't live past 3 games back then. That, and he defeated one of the all time grade sides in Milan for the league with God damn Napoli, though never did too well in the CL. Monster player though, and imo Maradona > Pele, who never left Brazil, though Brazil was stronger back then as many of them never left their league, but even then Brazil wasn't known for great defending. Credit to Pele for his WC exploits, but not leaving Brazil takes away from his legacy for me.

That is the problem of football history .you can never make a judgement about different eras
for example ,I read that many football historians considered Brazilian league the best club tournament back then over CL .it makes sense a bit considering how dominant they were and most of there players stayed there . and they could also mistaken
People judge different eras by the standards of their own era.not what football was about

That is not the foreign players' fault, but the fault of the system that allows sugar daddies and all the rich clubs to inflate the market. And you see it with domestic players too, look how much Liverpool spent a few years ago to try to build an English core and most of those players are/were average at best. But that's the "English tax" for you.

Sugar daddies has nothing to do with that IMO .Bosman ruling is what changed football forever. there is football b4 Bosman ruling and football after it
It allowed European clubs to buy players from any European Union nation without being considered foreigners .it allowed players to move freely once they are Free agents and therefor gave them huge leverage over clubs
Every good player now can move to stronger league freely and tries too .it lead to super leagues and super teams . Both Spanish and English leagues has benefited from that as Italian league initially on the expense of other leagues in Europe like Portugal,Holland etc
in the last 20 years only Porto has won the CL out of the top 4 leagues in the world (Spain-Italy-Germany-England) .in the 10 years b4 6 times the winner was out of those top leagues

Football now is different ,you can always make an argument that favors players from different eras. You can say now players are facing way stronger and more complete teams but on the other hand they are playing in stronger team themselves .

 

[Yannik]

Maradona was great, but not as great as he thinks he was. Messi is surely better than him and Pele, Zidane, R9 were also greater players than him imo.

 

[raskolnikov]

Maradona was great, but not as great as he thinks he was. Messi is surely better than him and Pele, Zidane, R9 were also greater players than him imo.

How so?

 

[Yannik]

How so?

achieved more, played better, way more discipline, fitter and were around on the the top scene for more than just 6 years.
Also they dont feel the constant urge to remind everyone that they were the best, since that isnt necessary.

 

[raskolnikov]

achieved more, played better, way more discipline, fitter and were around on the the top scene for mroe than just 6 years.

Many more than those few did that then though. Maradona can be a dick at times but its quite clear he has more football talent than the rest.

I mean, do we consider Cristiano better than Ronaldinho cause he has longetivity, scored more and was fitter?

Maradona is arguably the best dribbler, arguably the most gifted player, to me clearly has best ball control ever, had insane vision, was a great leader, had perfect passing, perfect freekicks, inspired people and gave them hope and has the most dominant wc performance of a player leading a team to victory.
I think he is the most naturally gifted player I have ever seen, more than Messi even though I consider Messi the greatest player ever. He was definitely better than Zidane, Pele and Ronaldo were strikers.

 

[blaugrana1987]

I thought Maradona was crazy, even better with the ball then Messi, but then I looked at new video of Messi dribbling for 10minutes. Safe to say we are underrating Messi...He is soooo good that we are used to it so much that nothinf really surprises us. But when you look at that kind of video its clear as a day, Messi>anyone else and that includes Diego who was God in his own right.