Maradona or Messi: Who's Been 2010's Best Entertainer?

They’ve been compared many times before. Mentor to mentee. Teacher to student.

There has been a passing of the torch from one great footballer to another, allowing the young, but determined, Messi to fulfill the vacant spot left open by Maradona. 

But as I watched the World Cup this year I couldn’t help but wonder who has entertained me more: Maradona or Messi?

This is not a comparison of footballer to footballer, but rather entertainer to entertainer.

Messi’s 34 goals in La Liga, and 47 goals in all competitions, speak for themselves. The goals were sheer class, and every single one of us has watched countless replays of each one. Messi doesn’t score lucky goals, only beautiful ones.

And although he didn’t record a goal in the World Cup, he produced some of the most jaw-dropping performances on-the-ball that I’ve ever seen.

We all admire Messi’s skill; we are all entertained by Messi’s class. But is it possible, as football fans, that we could be more entertained by a coach?

Maradona and his off the field antics make this question quite complicated to answer. 

We cannot help but laugh when we see the over-weight, drug-addicted Maradona juggle the ball on the sideline better than any player on the field, and then having video clips of the occasion top the charts on YouTube. 

And when he wasn’t producing hit YouTube clips? He was railing against some of the greatest players to walk the Earth. He told Pelé to "go back to the museum" and argued that Platini, the standing UEFA president, thinks he "is better than all the rest".  Nobody else would dare slander such great footballers.

But the Maradona soap opera got even better back at the hotel.  To accommodate his gigantic ego, he had the builders of the hotel he was staying at remodel his two-bedroom suite in order to accommodate a pair or brand new bidets! And this came after he had already had the builders knock down a wall so he could have a gargantuan suite for himself. 

He also decreed that all of the be rooms painted white and that exactly six play stations be installed.  And his insane demands didn’t stop there; his meal demands were just as regimented and outlandish.

All of this came after Maradona essentially gave his country, Argentina, the middle finger because, and rightfully so, they didn’t think Maradona could qualify them, one of the best teams in the world, for the World Cup.

So, to answer the question of who is more entertaining, I would say it’s down to the observer. To a true lover of football, nothing beats the tantalizing goals Messi produces. The Mafia Man’s antics should be left to a Hollywood film group.