The Rivalry between Diego Maradona and Pele
The two legends Pele and Maradona turned nearly two decades of football into a golden era of football. Pele played football for 22 years and finished in 1977 while Maradona played for 21 years and hung up his boots in 1997. Those who love football were fortunate to see both of them playing for different teams, growing as legends and finally being compared as rivals against each other. Anyone who even knows that football is a sport, leave alone watching a football match knows these two names, Maradona and Pele.The hot debate of the rivalry between Diego Maradona and Pele persists even today but were they really rivals? Did they consider each other their rival? Whenever I read about Football or watched football documentaries ,I found out media surely projected them so . Though it’s hard to find both player’s personal opinion about this on public record.
I am going to pen Diego Maradona and Pele’s comparison one more time for readers to ponder upon this debate.Maradona and Pele were both awarded players of the century.Pele won the World Cup in Sweden1958, Chile 1962 and Mexico 1970.Maradona won the World Cup once in 1986 in Mexico.Pele played 91 games being in Brazil team and scored 77 goals.Maradona played 90 games and scored 34 goals playing with Argentinean team.Pele was the biggest star of his club Santo and later in his life, he played for New York Cosmos whereas Maradona played mostly in his national team Argentina but later travelled to Europe to play in Napoli, Sevilla and Barcelona clubs too. Pele played more club football , but Maradona played more with his national team than clubs. Their comparison was very close in terms of goals. Pele edges it but Maradona wins in assists.
Their rivalry is considered one of the top rivalries ever in the sport of football .The rivalry heated up with time and Maradona’s growing popularity in football. They had a bitter sweet relationship throughout their life. The story began in April of 1979 when Pele agreed to host the rising star of Latin American football. At the time Maradona was only 19 years old and his favourite player was Rivelino but Maradona still would have loved to meet Pele, the legend.Some says that the rivalry was partially garnered by Maradona wishing to surpass Pele.Maradona kept quiet initially and said Pele was the best until Maradona won the World Cup for Argentina. He unconsciously or consciously tried to prove himself better than Pele.
Argentina and Brazil were always arch football rivals.This fact ignited this comparison even more even though their age difference was twenty years with Maradona being born in 1960 and Pele born in 1940.Another reason for this huge rivalry between them could be due to both being best out of the bestest of their time and their close stats so it is really hard to see them in separate light.
In the media people used to make them look like enemies but in public, they always came across really friendly with each other. They showed affection to each other and were real sportsmen. They never crossed paths on the pitch though which was quite disappointing for fans because they wanted to see a clash of the titans. There are many arguments about who is better than the other but no one can prove themselves completely right. In many ways they had a unique playing style and they had exceptional abilities on the pitch. They were and always will be some of the best players in the history of the game.When Pele was in hospital during his last days, Maradona visited him and paid a warm tribute to him on his death.In the end Media also stopped selling their rivalry stories because Ronaldo and Messi came in football scene.Still many people talk about the rivalry between Diego Maradona and PePele which is understandable being unforgettable legends and millions of football enthusiast’s love for them.
