“Nobody kicked him, but Maradona…”

Leo Messi ends up in the crosshairs of Hugo Gattiformer goalkeeper of the Argentine national team, legend of Boca Juniorscapable of playing at the highest levels up to 44 years of age. Gatti, who is now 80 years old, teased the Inter Miami striker from many points of view: “Today he is one less for the national team – he ruled in an interview with La Nacion 'El Loco', that was Maradona's teammate in Boca – Messi plays easy football, I saw it in a team like Barcelona where they whistled everything in his favor, where nobody gave him a kick, in a team that played for him.”

Messi's comparison with Ronaldo and Maradona

Messi aims to go to the 2026 World Cup with Argentina, and, according to Gatti “He can do it, but today he's one less, he's playing country field football in the United States.” Between Cristiano Ronaldo and MessiGatti has no doubts in choosing CR7, who, according to him, plays more competitive football in Arabia than in the American MLS: “You need more courage to play in Arabia, everyone competes there, they chase you, they kill you. Cristiano, although limited, remains a phenomenon. But, limited, remains better than Messi. And he is limited because he doesn't play in the same conditions as Messi, but he has played in the best teams in the world. Where did Messi play? In Barcelona and in the Argentine national team. Messi didn't push himself to play for other teams, in other countries. And he had the opportunities, eh?”. The former goalkeeper went so far as to downplay Messi's role in the vittoria Argentina's World Cup in 2022: “They didn't even kick him – says Gatti – in football, if they let you play, you can play every day, as Alfredo Di Stefano said. Maradona was kicked to death instead. Diego was hit, fell and got up again. Messi, on the other hand, gets touched and stays there…”.