New Maradona Vs New Pele

Since time these two greats graced the footballing arena, the footballing crowd has been spoiled for quality. Before and along with these two south American talisman were many great footballers like Alfred De Stefano, Puskas, Johan Cruff, Franz Beckenbauer,Michel Platini, Eusebio, Gerd Muller, Bobby Carlton and etc, however no one ever were spoken in the same league as these two were. Even though destiny unites these two by enigma & class, they were distinctly separated by there temperament. Pele was always considered a more rounded personality & a perfect role model because of his on field and off field behavior; however Diego was always the most mercurial player surrounded with controversy and bad press linked to his behavior and personal problems.

Over the years many impostors from Argentina and Brazil have been compared to these two greats and none of them were able to fulfill the vacuum left by these two, however off late the emergence of Messi and Robinho has triggered the talk of New Maradona and New Pele again. In many ways Robinho and Messi share there master’s class, vision and prodigious talent, however like there predecessor this is were the similarities end.

Since Messi start playing in the first team of Barca he has done no harm to his comparison to the Argentinean legend and Messi has gone from strength to strength and even drawn the comparison from no other than Maradona himself, however Messi reminds us of Maradona in all aspects except his temperament, where surprisingly he reminds us Pele and not Maradona. Messi’s ascend to the top has been built on strong foundation with the right mix of commitment, maturity, hard work and professionalism. Many clubs have tried to lure him away from Barcelona, however Messi’s commitment to the club, has made the club’s decision easy and simple. It won’t be a surprise, if Messi performs some miracle of his predecessor and surpasses him with some of his own and set’s examples for future “New Messi” to follow his foot step.

However on the contrary Robinho with his mercurial talent has set the world stage on fire. He showed the glimpse of his talent when he was playing in Santos and was tipped for bigger things once he signed for Real Madrid, however surprisingly he does not have the temperament of his master but surprisingly that of Maradona During his three years stint for Los Blancos he promised but failed to deliver on his talent. He was so unprofessional that he drew comments from sporting director of club when he complained smelling of booze in the dressing indicating Robinho’s professionalism to add to his expanding list of unprofessional acts his transfer saga drew a lot of criticism from even the unexpected quarters. It’s difficult not to be tempted with big money in the offing, however considering the fact that Robinho’s desire to be the best in the world it would have been a easy choice to make. It would have been the right choice to make by choosing to stay in Real Madrid and continue in quest for greatness. Instead Robinho choose not to confront problems and decided to be the big fish in the small pond by accepting a move to Manchester City. He allowed lust for money to kill his footballing soul. From a very promising career and possible greatness, Robinho is now all set to confront his worst fear, with demons of relegation lurking in the shadows. His temperament has time and time again has put his master to shame and has pushed Pele to the extend of recommending professional counseling for his off field behavior.

It is almost certain that Messi will do justice to the expectations, but it would be foolish to write Robinho off, however it would hardly be a surprise, if Robinho turns out to be a gaffer and does nothing to fulfill his potential. We will wait for future to answer this question.