Diego Maradona Clarifies Lionel Messi Remarks After Criticizing His ‘Character’ And ‘Personality’


Diego Maradona has been forced to clarify his remarks regarding Lionel Messi after he previously said that he lacked the “personality” and “character” to be a genuine leader.

According to the Daily Mail, Diego Maradona told Pele at a recent promotional match in Paris last week, “[Lionel Messi]’s a really good person, but he has no personality. He lacks [the] character to be a leader.”

But while speaking to Diario Popular, an Argentine newspaper, Diego Maradona looked to explain his comments, denying that he was actually criticizing his personality. “I still think the same thing I told Pele,” Diego Maradona remarked. “But I do not want it to look like a criticism. It is not so. The boy they want as a leader and leaders are made alone.”

Diego Maradona wasn’t done speaking about Lionel Messi, though, as he went on to explain that the Barcelona forward shouldn’t be the captain of Argentina or his club. Maradona believes that Messi is overly burdened with the responsibility of leading his teams.

After hearing Diego Maradona’s comments regarding Lionel Messi, 75-year-old Pele responded, via the Daily Mail, “Ah, I get it, he’s not like we were back in the days. In the ’70s [Brazil] had really good players like Rivelino, Gerson, Tostao. Not like Argentina now, which depends only on Messi. He [Maradona] is saying that Messi is a good player, there’s no doubt about it, but he has no personality.”

Lionel Messi is widely believed to be one of the best soccer players of all time. In fact, when Messi’s name is mentioned in this discussion it’s often debated whether or not he is better than both Diego Maradona and Pele.

The fact that Diego Maradona and Pele almost single-handedly won the World Cup for Argentina and Brazil, respectively, is often used in arguments by people who believe that the two are better than Lionel Messi.

The Argentinian has only played in one World Cup final, but that ended in disappointment as Germany defeated Argentina in the 2014 match. Meanwhile Pele won three World Cups, as he won the 1958, 1962, and 1970 titles while playing with Brazil. Maradona captained Argentina to the 1986 World Cup, while he also was part of the squad for the 1982, 1990 and 1994 tournaments, too. Unfortunately Maradona was booted out of the latter tournament after failing a drugs test. This signaled the end for his international career.

Lionel Messi is currently playing for Argentina in the Copa America Centenario. In fact, Messi came off the bench to score a hat trick for Argentina as they beat Panama 5-0.

Argentina, who are currently ranked number 1 in the FIFA world rankings, are firm favorites for the Copa America, which is currently being held in the United States Of America.

After this resounding victory for Argentina, Lionel Messi tried to downplay their result and insisted that everyone involved with the country should remain calm. Speaking to Ole, via Goal, Messi explained, “I hope it is our Copa, it is what we want, but we must be calm. First we have to think of Bolivia and after the quarter-final. Every game will be difficult. I’m happy to be back, to play after a while out, for the goals. The truth is I’m very happy with everything.”

Messi continued, “It was difficult [being out]. It felt like an eternity because I was unable to move for many days, practically not doing anything. I had to start little by little, just a few days ago I could re-join the group. They were the first 30 minutes of football after being out and it’s not easy to get back into the rhythm of matches.”

[Image via Getty/Salah Malkawi]

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