DOHA, Qatar — The Lionel Messi-Diego Maradona debate has never been all that rational. It has reappeared ahead of Sunday's 2022 World Cup final, with Messi one step away from clearing the hurdle that Maradona memorably did in 1986. And if the debate were a rational one, the current framing would be this: Messi could settle it once and for all with a win over France, because, for now, for at least one more day, a World Cup title is the lone accolade that Maradona had and Messi still doesn't.
from clearing the hurdle that Maradona memorably did in 1986. And if the debate were a rational one, the current framing would be this: Messi could settle it once and for all with a win over France, because, for now, for at least one more day, a World Cup title is the lone accolade that Maradona had and Messi still doesn't.
Yet there are fans, especially older Argentines, who will argue that Messi won’t — and can’t — ever match their original soccer God., and what they represent, not solely by what they've done., a kid from Argentina's suffocating slums who outran poverty toward greatness. He was flawed, terribly flawed, and struggled with a drug addiction that ultimately derailed his career — but millions of Argentines identified with the struggle.
All the while, though, Messi did things at Barcelona, at the highest level of club soccer, that mortals could never dream of. He won the Ballon d’Or — his first of seven and counting — by the widest-ever margin at age 22. He scored 91 goals in a calendar year . He won Champions Leagues .
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