Arrigo Sacchi, who was Argentina’s runner-up in 1994, claims that Lionel Messi overcame the shadow cast by fellow Argentine ‘phenomenon’ Diego Maradona by bringing his nation to World Cup victory.
After putting on a string of talismanic performances in Qatar, where he scored seven goals and added three assists during a fairytale campaign, Messi won the World Cup Golden Ball.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner scored twice against France on Sunday in the dramatic championship match, and he also scored in the ensuing penalty shootout to become the first captain of the Albiceleste to win the cup since Maradona in 1986.
Sacchi, whose legendary Milan team competed against Maradona’s Napoli in the 1980s, declined to draw comparisons between the two legends of Argentina, but he was happy to see Messi emulate his countryman’s achievements.
“When Messi raised the World Cup to the sky, his eyes were wet with tears,” Sacchi, who led Italy to the 1994 final, wrote in La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I thought of Leo’s entire journey, of what he won with Barcelona, of his dribbling, of his goals, of his acrobatics, of the many Ballon d’Ors he placed on the bulletin board.
“Then, however, there was that sort of curse which he could not shrug off. Too often he was forced to play with the shadow of Maradona weighing on his shoulders.
“Too often they asked him what he could not give, and then he felt sad. He felt the responsibility to give happiness to an entire people and the fact of not succeeding in it pained him.
“Now all of Argentina is at his feet. I don’t feel like saying whether or not he has reached Maradona’s level.
“I don’t agree with these comparisons between champions who belong to different eras of football.
“What I know is that Maradona was a phenomenon, and I knew him well, and I know that Messi is too, albeit in a different way.”