Is Lionel Messi Above Diego Maradona In World Cups? Bhaichung Bhutia Gives His Take
Argentina face Spain in the 2026 World Cup final in New York on Sunday. Messi also led Argentina to title in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia rates Diego Maradona above Lionel Messi in their World Cup performances but said the current Argentine skipper would reach the status of the 1986 Cup-winning hero if the South American country wins the 2026 edition title on Sunday. Argentina face Spain in the 2026 World Cup final in New York on Sunday. Messi also led Argentina to title in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Maradona led the 1986 Argentina side to victory and was also the captain of the team that lost to Germany in the final in 1990.
For Bhutia, Maradona's exploits of single-handedly winning the 1986 World Cup for Argentina would put him above Messi. But he said a second World Cup trophy for Messi on Sunday will take him on equal standing with Maradona.
"It's difficult to compare. But for me, it's Maradona because he single-handedly won the 1986 World Cup which I don't think any player in history has done that. I watched him in 1986 World Cup and other matches as well," Bhutia told PTI in an interview, when asked to rate Maradona and Messi in the World Cups.
"I think Messi is almost near. If he can win this World Cup, I think he will obviously reach the status of Maradona. He (Messi) has already won one World Cup but to overtake Maradona I think he needs one more World Cup to win," said the former India striker.
"Messi is a great player but he's got a great team around him who really works for him. For Maradona he had to work for everybody and also create those goal-scoring opportunities (for himself)." Maradona, who died in 2020 at the age of 60, played in four World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994) and scored eight goals from 21 matches.
Messi, on the other hand, is playing in his sixth World Cup (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026) and has scored 21 goals from 33 appearances so far. He also led Argentina to a runners-up finish in the 2014 World Cup, losing 0-1 to Germany in the final.
'Spain slight favourites against Argentina'
For Bhutia, Spain are a complete side and they are the favourites to win the title against Argentina on Sunday, though he feels that the Messi-led team cannot be written off after the so many stupendous come-back wins.
"Spain has a complete team structure, they have a better midfield, they don't really wait for a single player or moment," said Bhutia, Indian football's poster boy in the first decade of this century.
"But again, when everybody thought Argentina are down and out, they have come back strong. They have found something or the other way to come back and win matches when it looked like they have lost it. So definitely, Argentina can be unpredictable but I still feel Spain has got a better chance to win the World Cup." He felt Spain beating France in the first semifinals was not much of a surprise but England losing to Argentina after taking 1-0 lead in the second semifinal was a "shock" to him.
"Strong in midfield, good at building up from behind with a lot of possession, Spain have played like that throughout. France could have changed a little bit tactically, especially in midfield to win more battles, because they had four great players attacking wise. Mbappe and Olise were starved (of services). That made a big difference and Spain really dominated the match." "The second semifinals was a bit of a surprise. I had expected England to win against Argentina because Argentina had been struggling. England took a lead but after that the way they went defensive was something which was shocking.
"They (England) should have kept that momentum in terms of attacking, defending 20-30 minutes against a side like Argentina is difficult. After 20-30 attacks, one or two is bound to go in. The 12% possession England have from their goal to Argentina's match winning goal shows that they were too defensive minded." On Messi, whose sublime assist led to Argentina's match-winning goal, Bhutia said, "Big players rise in big occasions. If you give him one chance, he will either score or create a chance." Bhutia refused to read too much on claims that Argentina were favoured by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system than any other team in this World Cup, but said the on-field referee could have taken "common sense" decisions, especially against Switzerland.
"Law-wise, I don't think it really favoured Argentina as such but there are some occasions where the decisions could have been taken more on a common-sense basis.
"Especially the Switzerland vs Argentina game, the second yellow card and hence the red card (to a Swiss player) can be as per law wise, but there are a lot of things where you don't have to go by law and it can be overlooked by the referee. That incident was not anywhere in the middle of the field, the ball had gone out for end throw." Bhutia also has no problems with the VAR and the use of technology. "It's all right because decisions are coming quite fast, it's not stopping and delaying a game or making it boring. I think we've got the technology right except for one or two occasions."
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