WHO WAS FOOTBALL'S FINEST?

"Pelé needs to go back to the museum" - Maradona

“For 20 years they have been asking me the same question, who is the greatest? Maradona or Pelé? I reply that all you have to do is look at the facts - how many goals did he score with his right foot or with his head?” - Pelé

Exactly. Maradona only needed his left foot to absolutely destroy teams, and score a goal which, during his run past six England players for the "Goal of the Century", didn't use his right foot once, despite spending the whole movement on the right-hand side of the pitch.

For years people have debated who is the greater player; Edson Arantes do Nascimento, to give Pelé his real name, or Diego Armando Maradona. I believe it to be Maradona.

Comments from both legends about each other have often been less than flattering. Indeed, having originally considered 'Pelé or Maradona?' for the title of this post, I realised Pelé vs Maradona may have been a more apt title.

In a chance to 'officially' end the debate, FIFA asked the public to vote for the Player of the Century in 2000. Maradona won, then FIFA changed the rules and outcome of the vote, claiming the reason Maradona won was because the older generation had less access to the internet poll, giving Pelé's fans less opportunity to vote. Political nonsense by FIFA pandering to Pelé's role model status and perhaps his ego to justify changing the result.


"The people voted for me. Now they want me to share the prize with Pelé. I'm not going to share the prize with anybody." - Maradona after the change of FIFA's award

As for achievements, yes Pelé scored more goals, but he played in a more attacking role, so this is hardly surprising. He never played in any of the more competitive leagues in the world, playing for only Santos and New York Cosmos in his entire club career. Maradona played in the top divisions of both Spain and Italy, two of the most competitive leagues in the world, and broke the world transfer record twice. Goals in these leagues would be more difficult to score, especially in Italy with it's legendary defensive style of play.

Napoli won their only ever Serie A Italian Championships in 1986/87 and 1989/1990. Other honours during the Maradona era at Napoli included the Coppa Italia in 1987, the UEFA Cup in 1989 and the Italian Supercup in 1990. Is it a coincidence that all this unparalled success happened when Maradona played for the team? He was also the top scorer in Serie A in 1987/88, a great achievement for a player who was not an out-and-out striker. And, Maradona achieving what he did whilst being a self confessed cocaine addict is even more remarkable, given that it is not regarded as a performance enhancing drug in any way, and would have had a detremental effect to his health and fitness.

Pelé won three World Cups, a fantastic achievement and a record unequalled. In 1962 he was on the Brazilian squad at the start of the World Cup but because of an injury suffered in the second match, he was not able to play the remainder of the tournament. In November 2007 FIFA announced that he would be awarded the 1962 medal retroactively. Would any other player be given this special treatment?

The Brazil teams of 1958-1970 were exceptionally good, with the 1970 World Cup winning side voted as the greatest of all-time, and Pelé winning the award for the tournament's best player, a feat Maradona equalled in 1986. Pelé scored Brazil's first of four goals in the final against Italy, and laid off the ball to Carlos Alberto to fire home their last, often regarded as one of the greatest team goals ever scored. Pele's total of 12 World Cup goals is the fourth highest of any player. Had he not been injured in 1962 perhaps he would hold the record for the most.

Whilst Maradona only won one World Cup, he almost single-handedly won the 1986 tournament also being given the player of the tournament award, as Pelé had done in 1970. And yes, Maradona cheated to score his infamous first goal against England in the semi-final, but would anybody disagree that the hand which both punched the ball over Peter Shilton and held aloft the World Cup at the end of the tournament belonged to the man who deserved it?

Argentina's squad in 1986 was good, but arguabley did not have the overall depth of talent that their opponents in the final, West Germany, had at their disposal, with the German squad including two players who won the European Footballer Of The Year award during their careers; Lothar Matthaus, and twice-winner Karl -Heinz Rummenigge. Argentina had Maradona; he was the difference.

As for Maradona only winning one World Cup compared to Pelé's three, Maradona still played in four World Cups and was almost selected for five, missing the 1978 tournament due to his age and inexperience, despite already having four full caps by then including his first at the age of 16. He also came close to winning another World Cup in 1990, losing in a poor final, where the winning goal was a penalty in a 1-0 win for West Germany to avenge their defeat four years earlier.

This post is not a rant against Pelé , it is merely my opinion on the debate. But also, the fact that Pelé is a gentleman and Maradona is less so does not have anything to do with him being less of a footballer; a point often made by critics of Maradona is that his 'bad boy' attitude makes him less of a player than Pelé. On ability alone, it does not.

Pelé was a fantastic footballer, a superb athlete and a great role-model and ambassador for the beautiful game. If I was to choose my greatest team of all-time, he would definitley be in it. I can't think of many, if any, other players I would rate higher than him, next to Maradona, although limited access to footage of his playing career means I perhaps haven't seen as much of him as his Argentinian rival. Admittedly, this may also make me slightly biased towards Maradona. But for me, Maradona is still the greatest ever.

"The second goal [at Mexico '86] is probably the one and only time in my career, that I have felt like applauding the opposition scoring a goal" - Gary Lineker