[gramakri]

Lionel Messi. He recently even surpassed most goals for a club. He was touted as maradona successor which is an impossible bar and he has lived up to it. In contrast, not a single "messi" successor is even remotely close to him.

[mFixman]

Most importantly, if you ignore a couple of tax evasion issues he seems like an all-right guy.

Maradona was a drug addict and wife beater who fathered a dozen unrecognised children and was a horrible person overall. He became a national embarrassment for Argentina ever since he was kicked out of the world cup for doping.

In contrast, Messi's positive legacy will hopefully endure for longer.

[joachim4]

Maradona was always see as the star of the teams where he played, even when he was young. Plus he came from a poblacion, those ghettos in Argentina where people live with next to nothing. Messi on the other side came from a middle class family, and had his dream of being a professional player broke as a young kid by Newells due to his height problems.

The two has different histories, and should not be compared I think., except on the football side.