10. Eusebio
9. George Best
8. Zinedine Zidane
7. Franz Beckenbauer
6. Cristiano Ronaldo
5. Ronaldo
4. Johan Cruyff
3. Pele
2. Lionel Messi
1. Diego Maradona
No way. Maradona's brilliance was short-lived. Messi has been a god for over a decade. Obviously, since I have an Argentine wife and Argentine kids, I'm pro-anything Argentina. But Maradona's Maradona's greatness is heavily exaggerated. There is no question at one point, he was a football god. But, his top-end form was very short-lived. In 17 years with the National team, he played in 3 Copas & 4 WCs, making just 2 finals.
1979 Copa America
* 1 goal scored by Maradona against Bolivia. Shut out in the other 3 games.
* Argentina finished 3rd in group stage & were knocked out
1982 World Cup
* 2 goals scored, both against Hungary. Shut out in the other 4 games.
* Argentina was knocked out in the 2nd round, finishing last in their group with 0 points.
1983 Copa America
* Maradona was passed over
1986 World Cup
* 4 legitimate goals scored by Maradona. Shut out in 4 games,
including the WC Final vs West Germany.
* Argentina won the WC
1987 Copa America
* 3 goals scored by Maradona against Peru & Ecuador in the first 2 games, then shut out the rest of the tournament
* Argentina won their group, then was knocked out by Uruguay in the next round.
1989 Copa America
* 0 goals scored by Maradona. He was shut out in all 7 games
* Argentina won their group, then was knocked out the next round.
1990 World Cup
* 0 goals scored by Maradona. He was shut out in all 7 games.
* Argentina finished runner-up to West Germany
1991 Copa America
* Maradona was suspended for drugs
1993 Copa America
* Maradona was suspended for drugs
1994 World Cup
* 1 goal scored by Maradona
* Maradona was suspended during the tournament for drugs
Maradona had exactly one good tournament in his entire career with the Argentine National Team. He played in 36 major tournament games for Argentina, scoring in just 8 of them, and getting shut out in 28. That means the great Maradona was shut out in 78% of the games he played for the Argentine national team. Only twice in 7 tournaments did he score
more than 2 goals.
In the 1990 World Cup, Argentina was runner up scoring just 5 goals in 7 matches, including a loss to Camaroon. In 3 of 7 games, they scored zero goals, and needing penalty kicks to beat Italy, Romania, & Yugoslavia. Against Yugoslavia, Maradona missed a PK, almost costing Argentina the game. They were 2-3-2 with the great Diego Maradona scoring zero goals the entire tournament. And yet, they made it to the championship game.
There is no doubt Maradona is an incredible player. But, ONE good tournament in his entire career does not make him better than Messi, who has outclassed him on every single stage. He may not have a World Cup or Copa trophy, but he's done more to help his teams get in position to win than any Argentine before. In the 2015 Copa, he had 4 goals in the run up to the Final vs Chile. That game when to PKs. Messi made his, Higuain & Benega missed theirs. They lost. In the 2016 Copa, he had 5 goals & 4 assists in 6 games. In the Final, he played a beautiful pass to Higuain, who flat out whiffed from 7' out. Higuain then blew an incredible one-on-one breakaway vs Bravo. If Higuain doesn't screw up either golden opportunity, Argentina are Champions in regulation. It's not like Messi doesn't show up. 5 goals/assists in the 2014 World Cup, 4 goals/assists in the 2015 Copa, 9 goals/assists in the 2016 Copa. They make the Final of each tournament.
The other thing that bears mentioning is that Maradona's brilliance in 1986 fundamentally altered Argentine soccer for the worse. After that tournament, an emphasis was put on youth coaches pushing their best athletes into scoring positions. As such, the lesser players went into defense, center mid, etc. Watch any of the games from the 1986 WC. Argentina had an outstanding defense and played the ball forward well. Then, go watch all of the teams Messi has played on. All of the talent is up front. They are consistently poor in the defensive half.......not to mention Messi has had 9 National Team coaches in his 16 year career, which is absurd.