Maradona Gives Messi Kiss Of Death

Filed in archive Players on February 26, 2006

source: fcbarcelona.com

There's nothing worse than being "the new Maradona". Just ask Ariel Ortega, Pablo Aimar and most recently Andres D'Alessandro. The little number ten's skills are now so mythical that no player can live up to the hype.

So Maradona isn't doing young Leo Messi any favours when he proclaims "I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi." The young Barcelona player has performed well in La Liga and looked dangerous against Chelsea, but Maradona's comments put extra pressure on the 19 year old to perform.

We have selective memories, so when we think of Maradona we think of his inspired moments (like his goal against England in Mexico '86) and forget his more ordinary performances. This leads us to expect whoever the current "new Maradona" is to perform similar miracles with clockwork regularity.

This expectation, and the difficulty of performing one-man wonders in the modern, more defensive game (five in midfield and all that) are why the previous "new Maradona" finds himself struggling on loan at Portsmouth. By anointing Messi as his successor, Maradona may have accidentally created "the new D'Alessandro".