World Cup 2022: Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona's World Cup records compared

It looks like it was written in the stars for Lionel Messi.

One of the best players in the world over the last 15 or so years, the forward has done things few others can dream of.

The World Cup is missing from his trophy cabinet, even though it's filled with league titles.

Messi has the chance to follow in the footsteps of Diego Maradona, who was his hero.

Argentina will win the World Cup if they beat France on Sunday.

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People ask who is better, Messi or Maradona.

It's difficult to answer given both played in different eras and with different regulations.

We can compare their World Cup records and see who was the most influential in their side's run to the final.

Two geniuses guiding Argentina to glory?

A comparison can be made between this Argentina team and the one that won in 1978.

Gary Lineker was in the England team that lost to Maradona's Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 1998 World Cup in Mexico.

The side that won the World Cup in 1986 is very similar to the one he sees today.

They are very aggressive, they have a lot of strong, powerful players, not hugely gifted talent all over the field, but they had a really good center forward inJorge Valdano in 1986. They gave the ball to a genius.

Will it be good enough?

Argentina won their second title in 1978 after Diego Maradona provided the assist for the late winner.

The story of Messi will be written on Sunday.

The end product of their respective runs to the final is not much different.

In 1986, Maradona scored or assisted nine of Argentina's 11 goals, while Messi contributed to eight of them.

Messi has had some great moments in this tournament, including his goal against Mexico in the group stage and the amazing assist against Croatia in the semi-finals, but he has also had some quieter moments.

It was widely believed that Maradona almost single-handedly took Argentina to the World Cup victory.

The 'Hand of God' goal and the solo strike in the win against England are both remembered by him. He excelled in the other games as well.

At the 1986 World Cup, Maradona dribbled 53 times and created 27 chances, compared to 15 for Messi at the current World Cup.

The man who was one of the best players of his era spoke in 2020 about how he was impressed by Maradona's performance at the finals.

You're aware of everything when you're 14. I became aware of the player he was at that point. He was the sole winner of the games.

He had something else over the other players. He was on top of his game in 1986.

Messi's moment to emulate Maradona?

What about the World Cup as a whole?

This is the fifth time that Messi has appeared at the tournament. Maradona had four World Cup appearances from 1982 until 1994.

Messi has played four more World Cup matches than Maradona.

His 26th and final appearance on football's biggest stage will take place on Sunday.

When you account for Messi's more World Cup appearances, their numbers are pretty much the same.

The average number of goals and assists per 90 minutes for Messi and Maradona is the same.

Both Maradona and Messi have created a similar number of chances and dribbles in the same amount of time.

If Messi is unable to lead his team to a victory against France in the World Cup final, all of the statistics will be meaningless.

Rio Ferdinand said that the stars are aligned for Messi.

People say Messi has not won a World Cup when asked who is the best. This could be his time.

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