With Lionel Messi putting his international career to rest and his stats finalized, comparisons with Diego Maradona have begun to arise.
Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona established legacies as the two defining figures in Argentina national team history and two of the greatest athletes to ever play any sport. Now that Messi has officially announced his retirement from international duty, debate comparing the two iconic number 10s and their respective legacies has reignited across global sports media.
On Monday, August 31, Lionel Messi formally announced his retirement from the Argentina national team via an Instagram statement, delivering a decision that caught fans worldwide off guard. Drafting the letter two days following the 2026 World Cup final against Spain, the forward revealed that the passing of his father weighed heavily on his choice to step away.
While Maradona carried Argentina to the summit of global soccer while capturing the imagination of millions, Messi emerged as his heir apparent just a few years after Maradona’s playing days ended. Though the two aligned as manager and player at the 2010 World Cup, their statistical profiles across their international careers present striking contrasts.
Maradona and Messi stats for Argentina
Debuting in 1977 and stepping down 17 years later in 1994, Diego Maradona earned 91 caps for the Argentina national team, recording 34 goals and 26 assists. In contrast, Lionel Messi’s international tenure spanned nearly 21 full years from 2005 to 2026, amassing 207 appearances while tallying 125 goals and 57 assists.
Diego Maradona of Argentina in action during a match. (Allsport UK)
While trailing Messi in raw goals and assists, Maradona captured the heart of the nation with his transcendent run at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, considered by many the finest individual performance in tournament history. He immortalized his name during a legendary quarterfinal performance against England, scoring both the “Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century.“
Hardware comparisons remain a central pillar of the debate, with Maradona claiming two major international trophies to Messi’s four. Maradona lifted the 1986 World Cup and added the 1930 Artemio Franchi Cup in 1993, though a doping suspension kept him out of Argentina’s winning 1991 and 1993 Copa America squads.
Conversely, Lionel Messi collected four major senior titles with the Albiceleste, capturing the 2021 Copa America, the 2022 Finalissima, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the 2024 Copa America. Both icons also claimed a FIFA U-20 World Cup title early in their careers (Maradona in 1979, Messi in 2005), while the Inter Miami star added a 2008 Olympic gold medal to his portfolio.
PlayerGamesGoalsAssistsTitlesDiego Maradona9134262Lionel Messi207125574
Maradona and Messi’s career in the World Cup
The World Cup served as the ultimate stage where both Argentine legends cemented their standing among the sport’s greatest figures. Leading the Albiceleste across two distinct eras, their impact on the tournament proved incalculable in both cases.
Diego Maradona featured in four World Cups between 1982 and 1994, debuting at Spain 1982 where Argentina exited in the second group stage. At Mexico 1986, he produced a legendary tournament performance with five goals and five assists, followed by a gutted run to the 1990 final in Italy despite playing through injury, before a drug test failure cut short his final appearance at USA 1994.
Lionel Messi appeared in six World Cup tournaments, the most by any player in Argentine history. His journey began at Germany 2006 with one goal, followed by South Africa 2010 with Diego Maradona in the dugout, which marked the only World Cup campaign of his career in which he failed to find the back of the net.
Diego Maradona head coach of Argentina alongside Lionel Messi. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Brazil 2014 brought heartbreak as Messi scored four goals and added an assist before falling to Germany in the final. After a brief Round of 16 exit at Russia 2018, Messi led Argentina to glory at Qatar 2022 with seven goals and three assists, before delivering eight goals and four assists at the 2026 World Cup in North America, which ended in a final defeat to Spain.