Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni says Lionel Messi is best of all time not Diego Maradona

World Champion Argentina Coach Lionel Scaloni considers Lionel Messi as the greatest player of all time. People in Argentina seem to be changing their minds as Messi-led Argentina won their first FIFA World Cup title after Maradona in 1985. 

After Messi won the Golden Ball in the 2022 World Cup, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni believes that Messi has surpassed Argentina great Diego Maradona in the list of greatest players of all time after he scored seven goals and provided three assists in the seven appearances for Argentina at the WC. 

'Messi is better than Maradona'

"If I have to choose one I choose Leo, I have something special with him. He is the best of all time although Maradona was also great", Scaloni told Spanish radio station Cope.

When Scaloni took over as Argentina's coach in 2018, Messi took a break from international football after the disastrous 2018 Russia World Cup Campaign. Scaloni further revealed that he gave top priority to speaking to Messi. 

"The first thing we did was have a video call with Messi. He said he was honoured and the first thing we said to him was 'Come back. We'll wait for you'. That's what we did and eight months later he came and found an incredible group. Coaching Messi is not difficult. You cannot correct him on a technical level but sometimes you can instruct him to press or to attack in a certain way. When he smells blood he is the number one", Scaloni added.

Scaloni also defended goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who was accused of giving an insulting gesture to Kylian Mbappe. 

"There are attitudes that he will not be happy with, but he is a spectacular guy. He is like a child. He is an incredible guy, his personality has given so much to the group", Scaloni said. 

Lionel Scaloni has certainly changed the mood of Argentina towards football. After Argentina lost against Saudi Arabia in their opening game. It looked like Argentina are once again going to have another disastrous world cup. 

Ever since Argentina have won the World Cup everyone's talking about Messi's contribution for Argentina but the focus has not been on Scaloni. The Argentina coach has been integral in La Albiceleste's triumph in Qatar.