An Argentina legend has explained how Lionel Messi played and acted like Diego Maradona at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Paris Saint-Germain star got the first and third goals for the Albiceleste in their triumphant victory over France in the final on Sunday.
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Messi played a pivotal role in guiding his nation to the title as his seven goals and three assists helped him win the Player of the Tournament award, with the 35-year-old making history as the first player ever to win the Golden Ball more than once, having done so in Brazil in 2014 too.
Similar to Messi, Maradona captained Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, beating West Germany in the final.
Albiceleste legend Osvaldo Ardiles has now revealed how the PSG attacker was similar to the late Maradona in the latest instalment of the competition.
"If you remember a little bit more than three years ago, Messi was so, so fed up with Argentina, with the national team so he decided not to play anymore for the national team," the retired footballer said, per RTE's Game On show.
"And it was [current Argentina manager Lionel] Scaloni who convinced him to carry on playing, gave him the team around him and things started to change for him, because all of the time he had been in comparison with Maradona, (that) 'Maradona was brilliant, he used to fight everything, (that Messi) was not a fighter, he was brilliant but not a fighter', etc.
"And in fact Messi played a lot like Maradona in this World Cup.
"He was fighting the referees, he was very, very clearly the leader so people cannot say, 'You didn't win the World Cup so you can't be compared with Maradona.'
"Of course, you can be compared with Maradona, you can be compared with Pele and all the very, very best players in the history of football."
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Ardiles added that the difference between the two left-footers is more about personality as opposed to ability or playing style.
"They're incredibly similar in the way they play football. Outside football, the personality type, they are very, very, very different," the former Tottenham Hotspur star continued.
"But footballistically, they are very similar. They are magical, they are not of this world in the way that they play football. They're incredibly good."
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