Lionel Messi will never be able to better Diego Maradona “even if he wins four World Cups in a row”, according to Argentina legend Mario Kempes.
The forward finally ended his international drought with the Albiceleste after claiming a long-awaited maiden Copa America triumph against Brazil on Saturday.
It leaves the World Cup as the lone major honour the 34-year-old is yet to collect for club – with Barcelona – and country, but now Kempes has claimed that, for all his achievements, he will always be in the shadow of his late compatriot, a cultural icon within his home country and around the world.
“For Messi, the misfortune is that he was the replacement for Diego Maradona,” Kempes, who won the World Cup in 1978, told ESPN . “And it is very difficult to overshadow Diego, with the idolatry that he has received around the world
“If [Messi] wants to be better than Maradona, he is not going to achieve it even if he wins four World Cups in a row.
“He still hasn’t won the World Cup. No matter how many [titles he] wins or what he wins, it can never be compared to what Diego did.”
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