New Maradona

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New Maradona or New Diego is a title given by the press and public to promising Argentine football players in reference (and reverence) to Diego Maradona as a benchmark. Since Maradona retired, people have been anticipating someone to lead the Argentine national team to a World Cup final, like Maradona did twice.

As a consequence, very talented youngsters are quickly labeled as a New Maradona, sometimes without any similarity in playing style (for example Franco Di Santo or Juan Román Riquelme). The New Maradonas are predominantly players in attacking roles — forwards, wingers, or attacking midfielders.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi has been named as the "New Maradona" by Maradona himself

Although still widely contested among Argentine football players, in recent times the title has been attached to FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, an assertion supported by Maradona himself.[1] Maradona and Messi worked together as manager and player for Argentina's national side at the 2010 World Cup, the former thoroughly impressed with the latter's skills.

On 18 April 2007, Messi scored a goal against Getafe CF which was very similar to Maradona's Goal of the Century, scored against England in the 1986 World Cup. The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press labeled Messi "Messidona".[2] On 9 June 2007, in a match against RCD Espanyol, Messi scored a goal using his hand, which drew comparison to the Hand of God goal scored by Maradona in the same World Cup match.[3] On 12 March 2013, Messi scored two goals, and helped create the fourth, to help Barcelona defeat A.C. Milan (4–0) in the 2nd leg of their Champions League game and reach the quarter-finals. Messi's opening goal of the match once again drew further comparisons between himself and Maradona, due to the similarity with Maradona's famous goal against Greece in the 1994 World Cup.[4]

Messi has largely been compared to Maradona due to their similar playing style, skill set and short stature.[5] Their lower centre of gravity allows them to be more agile and change direction more quickly, helping them to evade tackles, and their short legs allow them to excel in short bursts of acceleration, and to keep control of the ball when dribbling at speed.[6] Both players have played and worn the number 10 shirt for Barcelona, and like Maradona before him, Messi is also predominantly a left footed player.[7] Messi's passing, dribbling, vision, eye for goal and playmaking ability have also drawn comparisons to Maradona.[8][9][10] Like Maradona, Messi is also an accurate set piece and penalty kick taker.[11] With regard to his dribbling ability and ball control, Maradona has said of Messi: "The ball stays glued to his foot; I’ve seen great players in my career, but I’ve never seen anyone with Messi's ball control."[12] Maradona has stated that he believes Messi to currently be the greatest player in the world.[13][14] Although Messi is regarded as being a more offensive player for Barcelona, he has also played in a more similar position to Maradona, in particular for Argentina, where he is predominantly used as an attacking midfielder, as a deep-lying forward, or as a winger, rather than as a striker or as a false-9. Like Maradona, Messi is considered to be one of the greatest players both of his generation and of all time.[15][16][17][18][19][20]

Like Maradona, Messi won the FIFA World Youth Championship, in 2005 with Argentina, and won the Golden Ball.[21] Coincidentally, both players made their national debut against Hungary, and Messi also went on to inherit Maradona's number 10 shirt and role as captain for Argentina. Messi would first wear the number 10 jersey and the captain's armband at an international tournament in the 2010 World Cup, under Maradona as coach. In 2014, Messi captained Argentina, leading them to their first World Cup final since Maradona had last brought them there as captain in 1990, where Argentina were once again defeated 1–0 by Germany. Like Maradona in 1986, Messi was awarded the Golden Ball (albeit controversially, a decision which Maradona even criticised), as the tournament's best player, scoring four goals and providing an assist. With this achievement, Maradona and Messi are the only players to win the Golden Ball at both the FIFA U-20 World Cup and FIFA World Cup, with Maradona doing so in 1979 and 1986, while Messi managed the same feat in 2005 and in 2014. Like Maradona in 1986, Messi also made the most successful dribbling runs of any other player throughout the tournament, and knocked out Belgium on the way to the final, drawing further comparisons between the two players.[22] During the tournament, Messi's passionate celebration after scoring the match winning goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina was compared to Maradona's famous goal celebration against Greece in 1994. Furthermore, images surfaced which compared the heavy marking both players faced by the opposition defence at the World Cup.[23] Like Maradona again in 1986, Messi was involved in the vast majority of Argentina's goals.[22]

List of players once thought to be the "New Maradona"

At the start of the 21st century, Javier Saviola was frequently given the "New Maradona" tag

References

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