Lionel Messi "played a lot like" Diego Maradona in the way in which he led Argentina to 2022 World Cup glory, according to 1978 tournament winner Ossie Ardiles.
Speaking to RTÉ's Game On in the wake of his country's dramatic final triumph over France on Sunday, which clinched their third World Cup and first since 1986, the former Tottenham and Argentina great said Messi had channeled elements of Maradona's approach and that there can be no doubt about his place among the greatest to have played the game.
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"If you remember a little bit more than three years ago, Messi was so, so fed up with Argentina, with the national team so he decided not to play anymore for the national team," he said.
"And it was Scaloni who convinced him to carry on playing, gave him the team around him and things started to change for him, because all of the time he had been in comparison with Maradona, (that) 'Maradona was brilliant, he used to fight everything, (that Messi) was not a fighter, he was brilliant but not a fighter' etc.
"And in fact Messi played a lot like Maradona in this World Cup. He was fighting the referees, he was very, very clearly the leader so people cannot say, 'You didn't win the World Cup so you can't be compared with Maradona.' Of course you can be compared with Maradona, you can be compared with Pele and all the very, very best players in the history of football."
Ardiles added that the overall contrast between Argentina's two icons has always been more about personality rather than style or ability.
"They're incredibly similar in the way they play football. Outside football, the personality type, they are very, very, very different," he said, pointing out that Messi has been perceived as more "timid" compared to the more larger-than-life Maradona.
"But footballistically they are very similar. They are magical, they are not of this world in the way that they play football. They're incredibly good."
Messi scored twice in the enthralling 120 minutes leading into the penalty shootout win over the French and it's a World Cup final that's already been talked up as one of the best ever - something Ardiles does not disagree with,
"It was one of the very best finals," he said, highlighting that the tense penalty shootout outcome had followed in the footsteps of a dramatic match unlike the USA 94 decider between Brazil and Italy.
"It was the excitement of the penalties (in 1994) but the game itself was nowhere near as good as the game yesterday."
While the final itself was tense for Argentinians, the entire tournament had been fraught from the moment they unexpectedly slipped up against Saudi Arabia in their group stage opener.
But Ardiles said even after that game, he had remained confident in his country's chances of going all the way and "never ceased to believe" even during the see-saw nature of the final.
"I'm Argentinian so we always have a lot of confidence in our team and when Argentina lost the first game against Saudi Arabia for example, my message to the Argentinian people was 'be very, very confident'. This team was very, very good (and) brilliant before coming to the World Cup.
"Because we lost a game that doesn't mean to say we were a bad team. They showed incredible character and then we were in the final."
The victory ends a 36-year wait for World Cup glory for the Albiceleste and adds a third star to their jersey at a difficult time for the country away from sport.
"It means a lot because you probably know how fanatical we are in Argentina about football," said Ardiles.
"It's not the only sport that we play but football is overwhelming so it means a lot to Argentina. Argentina, at the moment, has a lot of serious economic problems. In a lot of ways, it's a country (that's) very, very divided on political lines.
"So for everybody to be following in one direction, it's very, very good indeed."
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