Maradona Jr's Take on Football's Greatest Legends Sparks Debate

Diego Maradona Jr., son of the legendary Argentine footballer, has weighed in on the eternal debate about football's greatest players, and his perspective is turning heads across the football world. The younger Maradona didn't mince words when asked about where Lionel Messi stands in comparison to his iconic father.

"Messi is a phenomenon," Maradona Jr. acknowledged in a recent interview. "But nobody is comparable with my father. You cannot compare humans to aliens. We can say that Maradona is the God of football and that Leo is the best of the humans." The bold statement suggests that while Messi might be the greatest mortal footballer, the elder Maradona exists in a completely different celestial category altogether.

When it comes to the modern era's most heated rivalry, Maradona Jr. leaves no room for ambiguity. "I adore Messi," he declared emphatically. "He's the best around and Cristiano doesn't even come close to him." This strong endorsement of Messi over Ronaldo adds fuel to a debate that has divided football fans for over a decade. Maradona Jr. went even further, stating that "whoever in Argentina criticises him doesn't know a thing about football," revealing that his famous father shares his admiration for Messi as well.

Beyond the Messi-Ronaldo debate, Maradona Jr. offered his perspective on football's all-time hierarchy. After placing his father at the pinnacle and Messi as the greatest among mortals, he named Brazilian Ronaldo Nazário as the third-greatest player in history. "Ronaldo [Nazario], the real Ronaldo," he specified, distinguishing the Brazilian phenomenon from his Portuguese namesake. Following these three footballing deities, Maradona Jr. acknowledged that "after these three, then come the others," but made special mention of Johan Cruyff, noting that the Dutch master "deserves a separate mention for the mark he left on football. He changed the sport by himself."

Of course, as Maradona's own son, his perspective comes with inherent bias - not only toward his legendary father but also toward his fellow Argentine Messi. Football fans might want to take his rankings with a grain of salt, but they nonetheless provide fascinating insight into how one of football's most famous families views the game's hierarchy.

The debate about football's greatest will likely continue forever, with different generations championing their own heroes. What makes Maradona Jr.'s perspective particularly interesting is how it bridges multiple eras - from his father's dominant period through today's modern stars. His acknowledgment of Johan Cruyff's revolutionary impact shows appreciation for players who transformed the game itself, not just those who excelled within existing systems.

As football continues to evolve in 2025, new talents emerge who will inevitably enter these conversations. But for now, according to Maradona Jr., the football pantheon has clear celestial beings and mere mortals - with his father occupying a category all his own that no current player, not even the phenomenal Messi, can truly touch.