Messi ranked below Maradona in GOAT debate for one key reason, says Italy icon Baggio
Approaching the end of his professional career, Lionel Messi is regarded by many as the greatest player of all time. However, in that debate, other heavyweights come into play, such as Diego Maradona, whom Italy icon Dino Baggio considered the number one.
During an interview with Diario AS, the former Juventus and Parma midfielder was asked about his view of modern soccer, particularly Serie A, comparing it with the 1980s and 1990s. Baggio acknowledged that it was more difficult to play in Italy back then: “Perhaps Messi could have had problems here in his day.”
That led the conversation toward the differences in soccer over the years. Dino based his opinion on the fact that a few decades ago referees were more lenient when it came to physical contact, resulting in a harsher sport for talented players.
“Today, fouls are called before contact, practically,” Baggio noted, before highlighting who he considered the best player in the world during those years. “Maradona, in modern times, would score a thousand goals per season. You can’t imagine what they would hit him with when he was at Napoli,” said the 1994 FIFA World Cup finalist.
Immediately, Dino Baggio compared the two Argentine superstars and pointed out the difference between them: “Messi, back then, would have been equally brilliant, but completely, absolutely crushed. That’s why I say Diego was the greatest. The God of world soccer.”
Comparisons between Messi and Maradona
Dino Baggio is not the first to highlight the contrast between the leniency of the past and the extreme caution of modern soccer. This is usually one of the arguments used to place stars from previous decades, like Diego Maradona, Pele, or Alfredo Di Stefano, above modern geniuses like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Some statistics support this view. FIFA shared an analysis on its official website a few years ago regarding the number of fouls committed in each edition of the World Cup (with records starting in Chile 1962) and the players who were most frequently fouled.
There is an indisputable leader in the rankings. Diego Maradona is the player who received the most fouls in World Cup history, totaling 152 across his four tournaments (1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994). He doubles the second player on the list, Lionel Messi, who was fouled 75 times across his five tournaments from 2006 onwards. Further down are Brazil’s Jairzinho (64), Neymar (60), and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (58).
The most astonishing fact is that Maradona ranks first, second, and third for the most fouls received in a single World Cup. In Mexico 1986, he was fouled 53 times; in Italy 1990, 50 times; and in Spain 1982, 36 times. Only in fourth place does another player appear—curiously also Argentine—Ariel Ortega, with 33 fouls in France 1998.