[bhrgunatha]

> I'm barely aware that he was a good player of yesteryear

As an English football fan, that cheered me up (it still hurts). I suspect no English football fan could accept Maradona as the greatest.

Do you know about Pelé?

When I was a kid, it seems everyone (even non fans) knew Pelé was the greatest.

[mayankkaizen]

I am not interested in sports but when I was in my teens, no other name was associated with any sport as was the name of Pele with football. As you said, it seemed no one was interested in football but everyone knew Pele was the god of his game.

[cryptonector]

Lol, yeah. That game in 1986 must have hurt. One of the most beautiful goals of all time (which Messi has replicated twice), then that awful hand-of-g-d goal (which Messi, sadly, has also replicated twice).

[heywhatupboys]

> then that awful hand-of-g-d goal

everyone celebrates this goal. No fan has ever given him shit about it

[cryptonector]

I care, what can I say. I want clean fútbol.

[phlakaton]

Soccer is played by gloriously messy human beings. A bit of schmutz now and then is not so terrible a thing.

[cryptonector]

That adds to Messi's greatness, since he's not "gloriously messy".

[mmplxx]

I would say that Messi is gloriously messy.

[nickcox]

The second goal should also never have stood. Clear foul on Glenn Hoddle.

[andrepd]

36 years on and still seething x)

The Hand of God is a clear foul, but the Goal of the Century is clean as a whistle. Funnily, these two goals alone — both so different — are pretty much the summary of Diego Maradona

[cryptonector]

I like that take.

[mongol]

It was opposite order. Hand goal, then dribble.

[wslh]

Have you watch this? “Diego Maradona Goal of the Century | Argentina v England | 1986 FIFA World Cup” [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/Da_CDPRG2j0

[laurencerowe]

I was too young to remember the game but I still remember the cultural impact of that goal in England as a kid. The fact we still talk about Maradona surely places him as one of the greats!

I'm not sure it makes sense to compare greats of different generations. In athletics we can clearly see the improvement from generation to generation so if you plucked them out at their heights Messi is probably a better player than Maradona and Maradona a better player than Pelé, but had they all played at the same time who knows?