Football placed its Brazilian legend, Pele, who died Thursday at the age of 82, among the greats, and in an irreconcilable competition for the title of “the greatest in history”, with the other magician of the round, Argentine Diego Armando Maradona, who died in November 2020, at the age of 60. years of heart attack.
Although the first popular game produced in its modern history outstanding talents capable of competing for the title of “the greatest”, especially Argentine Lionel Messi, who was finally crowned with the Qatar 2022 World Cup title, Pele and Maradona enjoyed decades of historical fame. Here are four main points of comparison:
Triple coronation and title in 1986
Pele participated in four World Cups between 1958 and 1970, and he is still the only player to win the title three times (1958, 1962, when he missed most of the matches after suffering an early injury, and 1970).
The first coronation came in Sweden, and Pele was still seventeen years old, and he achieved a historic achievement on that day when he became the first teenager to score in a World Cup final match, and he remained alone in that to the final of the World Cup Russia 2018 when he was joined by Frenchman Kylian Mbappe.
The Brazilian scored six goals in his first World Cup, two of them in the final and a hat-trick in the semi-finals.
Four years later, he lifted the trophy again despite his limited contribution after he was injured in the second match of the finals. After the disappointing exit from the 1966 World Cup in England, Pele returned strongly in Mexico 1970 and led his country to a third title.
As for Maradona, who was born in 1960, that is, twenty years younger than Pele, he was absent from the Argentine squad that lifted the World Cup for the first time in its history in the 1978 World Cup at home. He attended the 1982 World Cup in Spain, but received a red card in losing 1-3 to Brazil in the second round (the last stage before the semi-finals, according to the tournament system at the time).
Maradona printed the World Cup Mexico 1986 in his name unchallenged for various reasons, most notably his leadership of Argentina to its second world title after matches in which he presented indelible glimpses of the memory of the fans of the game.
Perhaps the most prominent match that will remain stuck in the mind, the quarter-final meeting against an English team that included in its ranks that day the World Cup top scorer Gary Lineker.
On June 22, 1986, Maradona gave his country a 2-1 victory with two immortal goals: the first with a clear hand touch that the referee did not count, and the Argentine player described it after that as “the hand of God”, and the second after an amazing individual effort from the middle of the field during which he crossed more than one English player And goalkeeper Peter Shilton, before depositing the ball in the goal, scoring a goal that many critics consider the most beautiful in the modern history of the game.
He scored both goals in the 2-0 semi-final victory over Belgium. And although he did not score in the final against West Germany “3-2”, he provided the assist for the winning goal scored by Jorge Burruchaga.
Number 10 and Number 10
The two players wore the number 10 shirt, which carries great symbolism in football teams: Pele between 1956 and 1977, and Maradona between 1976 and 1997.
He often viewed Pele’s role on the field as “the number 9 and a half”, with a prolific goal-scoring that reached 1281 goals in 1363 matches, according to the statistics of the International Federation of the game “FIFA”, distributed between two teams that defended their colors, that is, the Brazilian Santos and the American New York Cosmos, and the national team ” Seleção, with whom he played 92 games, is still his historic top scorer with 77 goals, equal to the current star, Neymar.
As for Maradona, he was seen more as a free playmaker who switched between defenders as he pleased, and during his career he scored 345 goals in 692 games.
An example and a troublemaker
Pele knew only two clubs during his long career: Santos (1956-1974) and Cosmos (1975-1977), and he was always seen as a committed hero, a respected man, and an example in the world of the game. His football career was not tainted by any scandal.
As for Maradona, the son of a country that gave birth to Che Guevara, he was the riotous child on and off the green rectangle: he moved between six clubs, received a red card in the 1982 World Cup, was expelled from the national team during the 1994 World Cup in the United States after failing a doping test, and suffered from cocaine addiction.
Brazilian and Argentinian
An aspect of the club between the players is due to their South American affiliation, and the conflict over the site between Brazil and Argentina.
The relationship between them was not at its best, and things were made worse by the statements and actions of both parties, as well as by their respective fans.
Pele, who is honored in a museum bearing his name in Brazil, had previously considered that Maradona was not a role model for children in love with the game, especially in light of his permanent problems with drugs.
Maradona, on the other hand, openly mocked Brazil’s humiliating fall at home in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals, 1-7 against Germany.
The Brazilian fans responded with chants comparing Pele, “who scored a thousand goals” and Maradona, “who sniffs cocaine”, during which they asked the Argentines how they felt about being crowned with only two World Cups, i.e. “less a title than Pele”.
But the relationship between them was warm at a later time, and Pele’s most prominent comment after Maradona’s death was, “One day, I hope we will play football together in the sky.”
A week later, he sent him a message saying, “Your journey was marked by honesty. You were always clear. In your unique and special way, you taught us that we have to love and say ‘I love you’ more often.. Your quick departure did not allow me to say that to you, so I will just write.” : ‘I love you, Diego'”.