StevieDay1983 Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 OK, so with a lot of football in suspended animation right now I decided to watch the Diego Maradona documentary directed by Asif Kapadia. It's an absorbing watch. You get some understanding of why he became such a complicated person. Not excusing the bad things he did but you see how he became the way he was. Anyway, it got me thinking about the age-old question. Is he the greatest player to have graced the game as so many claim? Personally, and this might be my age, I'm reluctant to compare players in different positions and prefer to put players in categories. I would say Maradona is in an elite group with Pele, Johann Cruyff, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo. After that, it's the likes of George Best, John Charles, Franz Beckenbauer, Zinedine Zidane, and Ronaldo etc. The biggest question for me is would Maradona be hailed as much as he is if he didn't commit the "Hand of God" or develop the cocaine addiction etc? Did his weaknesses and flaws help to build the mythology that has seen him labelled as the greatest of all-time? Or would he have been seen more favourably if he didn't have those flaws? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Puntalot Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Without doubt in my opinion, not even a debate. Ask yourself this - what other player has dragged an average Serie A club to win the title, which was Napoli at the time and they were very average. Then he did the same with what was anĀ average Argentina team to win the World Cup.Ā StevieDay1983 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torque Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Not to mention USA '94. If he hadn't been kicked out of the tournament it wouldn't have surprised me if Argentina had gone on to win it. He was playing well and had a real aura which could have made all the difference.Ā StevieDay1983 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieDay1983 Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 17 minutes ago, Torque said: Not to mention USA '94. If he hadn't been kicked out of the tournament it wouldn't have surprised me if Argentina had gone on to win it. He was playing well and had a real aura which could have made all the difference.Ā To be fair, give any man this amount of drugs and he'd take his nation to a World Cup trophy!Ā Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torque Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 There's the aura I was talking aboutĀ Ā Must have been worth at least 0.1 of a goal advantage on the spreads if he'd stayed in! StevieDay1983 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieDay1983 Posted March 28, 2020 Author Share Posted March 28, 2020 The most interesting part about the documentary was his personal fitness coach saying he was almost schizophrenic. There was Diego off the pitch. The quiet, insecure, and self-doubting boy from Lanus Oeste and then there was the persona he created on the pitch in order to survive the brutality of football that was Maradona. An arrogant, selfish, and ruthless individual. I think this persona he had on the pitch was what made him so good. Maybe that's the trouble these days. Players are encouraged to be these flawless role models on and off the pitch which restricts their freedom to express themselves or reach that deeper level of, for want of a better word, c*ntishness that can take them to the next level of performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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