“No matter what he wins, he will never be comparable to what Diego did”.
Kempes was the top scorer at the 1978 World Cup. He said it in July 2021, days after Argentina won the Copa América at the Maracanã and ended 28 years without a title.
According to Kempes, Messi “had the misfortune” of being Maradona’s replacement and, given the idol worship Diego inspired around the world, it is very difficult to outshine him.
If Messi wants to be better than Maradona, he said, he won’t achieve it even by winning four World Cups in a row. At the time, Messi still hadn’t won the World Cup.
Kempes went further: he claimed that Messi never went through Buenos Aires or played for any team in Argentina, that he went straight to Barcelona, and that “the Argentine is very special in this regard”.
The remark caused controversy in Argentina and continues to circulate whenever the comparison comes up again. It is the opinion of a world champion, not a fact: is he right, or has time already answered him?