Ossie Ardiles: Messi played like Maradona in this World Cup

Lionel Messi "played a lot like" Diego Maradona in the way in which he led Argentina to 2022 World Cup glory, according to 1978 tournament winner Ossie Ardiles.

Speaking to RTÉ's Game On in the wake of his country's dramatic final triumph over France on Sunday, which clinched their third World Cup and first since 1986, the former Tottenham and Argentina great said Messi had channeled elements of Maradona's approach and that there can be no doubt about his place among the greatest to have played the game.

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"If you remember a little bit more than three years ago, Messi was so, so fed up with Argentina, with the national team so he decided not to play anymore for the national team," he said.

"And it was Scaloni who convinced him to carry on playing, gave him the team around him and things started to change for him, because all of the time he had been in comparison with Maradona, (that) 'Maradona was brilliant, he used to fight everything, (that Messi) was not a fighter, he was brilliant but not a fighter' etc.

"And in fact Messi played a lot like Maradona in this World Cup. He was fighting the referees, he was very, very clearly the leader so people cannot say, 'You didn't win the World Cup so you can't be compared with Maradona.' Of course you can be compared with Maradona, you can be compared with Pele and all the very, very best players in the history of football."

Ardiles added that the overall contrast between Argentina's two icons has always been more about personality rather