MARADONA: Best in the world

KNEE-JERK reactions are commonplace in today's football and that's understandable with so much said and written about our beautiful game.

Players go from hero to zero in the space of 90 minutes, and vice-versa in some instances, and we are all prone to getting carried away at times.

It's worth remembering that things are very different these days as, due to the extensive coverage on television, we get to see the top stars regularly and know their games inside out.

You don't even have to make the effort to see matches in the flesh to be able to get a close-up view and it means a much wider audience is being reached every time a Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney puts on a pair of boots.

This has its advantages and disadvantages.

It enables everybody to have an opinion, which can only be a good thing, but it also provides a distortion when comparing today's events to those of the past.

It's pretty much impossible to say Messi, for example, is better than Diego Maradona because, unless you were a Neopolitan or in Italy at the time, it's highly unlikely you'd have seen much of the great man in his hey-day.

Instead, we relied on witnessing his majesty in the major tournaments and he dominated the 1986 World Cup when at the peak of his powers.

Four years later, although not as breathtaking, he still dragged an average Argentina side into the final.

There's a lot of negative publicity around Maradona, particularly in England, for obvious reasons. The 'Hand of God', the drug abuse, the fact he was pretty much a flop at Barcelona and the argument that he remains a flawed genius.

All true but we cannot forget just how good a player he was.

His achievements at Napoli were not witnessed week in, week out on TV and beamed around the globe but the bare facts are pretty convincing. He spurred the side to their only two scudettos to date and they also finished twice during his seven seasons at the club. Furthermore, they won the UEFA Cup in 1989 - a tough competition to win in the eighties.

Watching Maradona in person must have been a special experience. I managed to see him twice, once as a teenager at Wembley in a 3-1 defeat to England and again at the same venue in a Football League versus Rest of the World game.

It obviously doesn't compare to seeing him at his peak, destroying defences for fun.

But I was able to think I could be proud to say I'd seen Messi score in a Champions League Final when attending last year's big event in Rome.

I don't doubt that Messi has the potential to be better than his compatriot but I think it's unfair and even untrue to say he has already surpassed his country's idol.

They play in different eras and tackling has been pretty much removed nowadays whereas Maradona was always a target for hatchet men and that's a chief reason why he didn't succeed in the Nou Camp - although 22 goals in 36 games isn't a bad record.

I'm aware that every generation clings to the belief that their main man was the best ever seen. It's something you learn as you get older.

For me, Maradona remains the greatest footballer of all-time but others would always argue Pele's case.

Now a third man is fast entering the debate but let's not be too quick to laud him as the No1.

To achieve greatness, he must shine on the biggest stage of all and this year's World Cup in South Africa gives him the chance to do this.

If it's not 2010, then it may be in Brazil four years later.

Messi has the promise at 22 and his breathtaking ability already has the world watching on in awe and admiration.

But let's not put his, thus far, limited achievements above those of the great Diego Armando Maradona.