{"id":807135,"date":"2026-07-18T00:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807135\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T00:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T00:11:11","slug":"leo-has-surpassed-diego-after-two-decades-argentina-embraces-messi-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807135\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Leo has surpassed Diego\u2019: after two decades Argentina embraces Messi | Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is time to consign Diego Maradona\u2019s Hand of God<\/a> to a museum piece. For 40 years that moment and Maradona\u2019s unforgettable \u201cgoal of the century\u201d<\/a> coloured the soul and passion of Argentinian football. Today things are very different, and the main reason is Lionel Messi. By asserting himself over the memory of Maradona<\/a>, Messi is establishing a new Argentina.<\/p>\n

An impressive 2\u20131 semi-final victory over England<\/a> showcased a revitalised Argentina who go into Sunday\u2019s final against Spain relying on a simple, powerful weapon: excellent football.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor English football, this is more painful than the Hand of God,\u201d Tom\u00e1s Abraham says. He has dedicated his life to writing, studying philosophy and analysing society and the human condition, although his greatest passion lies elsewhere: football.<\/p>\n

At 79, Abraham organises his daily schedule around Champions League and Premier League matches, which he follows from his spacious flat in Colegiales \u2013 a trendy neighbourhood in Buenos Aires \u2013 or from his book-filled office, where he shuts himself away for hours to write.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe English consider the Hand of God to be illegal, a cheat,\u201d Abraham says. \u201cAnd this hurts all the more because they were defeated by a superior team<\/a> that they were particularly keen to beat. The wound runs deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in a game where he did not score, Messi was at the heart of Argentina\u2019s comeback against England. Photograph: Joao Bravo\/Sports Press Photo\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

For many years, a large proportion of Argentinians looked down on Messi<\/a>, clinging to the Maradona myth. Messi couldn\u2019t be Messi; he had to be Maradona. While the rest of the world dreamed of having their own Messi, a staggering number of Argentinians maintained that he would dissolve like a sugar lump in a cup of tea the moment he came up against a couple of tough defenders in the Copa Libertadores.<\/p>\n

Which is why Messi\u2019s greatest triumph is that he has ceased to be viewed through the prism of Maradona<\/a> and earned the recognition \u2013 and unanimous affection \u2013 of his people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maradona was more than a footballer; he was also the essence of Argentinidad, or at least a certain kind of Argentinidad<\/a>. For a long time, it was impossible to understand Maradona without first understanding Argentina, but there came a point when it became impossible to understand Argentina without first understanding Maradona, so intertwined and similar had the two become.<\/p>\n

Maradona embodied the brilliant and haughty Argentina, the Argentina convinced of its destiny as a superpower. That is also why Maradona felt entitled to express his opinion and pass judgment on everything<\/a>: on George Bush and the pope, on Fifa, on his idols Fidel Castro and Hugo Ch\u00e1vez. He could say one thing and its opposite, loving and hating the same person in a matter of months.<\/p>\n

A tremendous talent in many respects and often kind-hearted, Maradona was also adept at disparaging, hurting, attacking and provoking. Ultimately, he resembled his country too closely, with its great lights and inevitable shadows.<\/p>\n

As the product of a good state education, Maradona was a man who understood the meaning and weight of every word. He had a talent for expressing himself, despite having been born and raised in very humble circumstances.<\/p>\n

Messi, a child of a somewhat more spineless Argentina<\/a>, lacks that talent; his vocabulary is limited, his sentences are short and lack depth, although they have improved markedly in recent years. This is how he feels comfortable, and this is how he has shaped a different kind of Argentinian football identity (and Argentinian identity).<\/p>\n

Messi has now firmly joined Maradona at the top of Argentina\u2019s footballing pantheon. Photograph: Juan Mabromata\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Carlos Mac Allister played alongside Maradona<\/a> for Argentina. He is also the father of Alexis Mac Allister. He has been in the US for weeks watching his son at the World Cup and will be at the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference between Diego and Leo is their private lives,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not to speak ill of Diego. I\u2019m not going to explain what he himself has already said. Thanks to Diego being Diego, Messi is Messi today. With an understanding of what happened, Messi was able to work out how to take the game to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another explanation for why the Hand of God is in a symbolic museum<\/a> lies in the inquest seeking to establish why Maradona died on 25 November 2020 and whether his death could have been prevented<\/a>. The inquest was not front-page news here, nor did it generate sustained public interest. It was as if Argentinians, ashamed of the harsh circumstances in which Maradona died, preferred to subtly turn the page. And what better way to do so than by embracing Messi?<\/p>\n

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After the victory over England, Messi expressed moving words for Maradona, who had once criticised his lack of leadership: \u201cI\u2019m sure Diego is enjoying this immensely from up above. Let him enjoy it, because it\u2019s a gift for him too.\u201d<\/p>\n

To dwell on the Hand of God is to delve almost into football prehistory, to talk about something no longer possible, as the columnist H\u00e9ctor Gambini pointed out in Clar\u00edn, Argentina\u2019s most widely read newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of the players who took part in this Argentina v England match had even been born when Maradona scored his immortal goals,\u201d he wrote. \u201cGoals that VAR would have disallowed: the first for a handball by the Blues\u2019 No 10. The second for a foul by the Blues\u2019 No 2 [Sergio Batista] on the Whites\u2019 No\u00a04 [Glenn Hoddle], following which Argentina regained possession, the ball ended up at Maradona\u2019s feet and, 13 seconds later, in the English net.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Maradona\u2019s death, Messi paid tribute to him by wearing a Maradona 10 Newell\u2019s Old Boys shirt. Photograph: Albert Gea\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Mariano Israelit, one of Maradona\u2019s closest friends, says Maradona is no longer No 1. \u201cDiego was the greatest of all \u2026 up to a point<\/a>. But Messi has now surpassed him; what Messi has achieved is unsurpassable. Diego played for a team like Napoli<\/a>, which was basically 10 donkeys and Diego. Messi played for a Barcelona side surrounded by stars. We have to be realistic and honest; I take my hat off to Messi.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israelit criticises the English stance on their 1986 game by harking back to the 1966 World Cup<\/a> final. \u201cAn Englishman has no right whatsoever to say that Maradona scored with his hand or that he cheated, because the only tournament they ever won, they won with a goal that wasn\u2019t a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can we expect from the final? Abraham does not look favourably on the European champions. \u201cThey ignore everything we\u2019ve contributed to Spanish football: Alfredo Di St\u00e9fano<\/a> and Lionel Messi<\/a>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Argentina has enriched Spanish football, and Spanish clubs have helped Argentinian players develop. The list of Argentinians who have played and managed in Spain is dizzying: Di St\u00e9fano and Messi, yes, but also Mario Kempes, Maradona, C\u00e9sar Luis Menotti, Carlos Bilardo, Lionel Scaloni<\/a>. The country\u2019s greatest players and managers. And thousands more.<\/p>\n

Mac Allister highlights that Argentina are no longer just Messi<\/a>, as they were at the start of the World Cup. The team have woken up. \u201cI see an Argentina team that had been playing at 60% of its capacity<\/a>, but which played at 90% against England,\u201d Mac Allister says. \u201cAgainst Spain, it will need to play at 100%. One thing is clear: we were playing with heart and soul, but we were lacking a bit of finesse. Not any more \u2013 Argentina dominated England.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, as the Uruguayan journalist Emiliano Hern\u00e1ndez Pereyra puts it, fed up with many of his compatriots \u2013 frustrated after a very poor World Cup<\/a> \u2013 criticising neighbouring Argentina: Argentina make them jealous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese lads have everything I want for my country, but there are a lot of stubborn Uruguayans. Do you think Argentina are just lucky? Please \u2026 It\u2019s an extraordinary team; they\u2019ve got a certain something that no other team has.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is time to consign Diego Maradona\u2019s Hand of God to a museum piece. For 40 years that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-807135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}