Maradona was better , Messi whilst great doesn’t play against top top defenders anymore .
10/15 years ago you had the likes of maldini , nesta , Cafu , Carlos , cannavaro , Stam , Ferdinand ,terry carvalho , Zanetti .....top top defenders all over Europe and the world , these days in an age where defenders are preferred if they can pass it’s no wonder somebody of Messi ability can freely score and run through people the way he does .
Garbage defenders , garbage holding midfielders .
I mean Jerome boateng is classed as a world class defender these Days and he’s bilge
He couldn’t score against Chelsea for years and as soon as makalele terry and carvalho moved on he scores against them , his record against English teams and Italian teams was horrendous until all the great defenders retired .
Too much protection , not enough great defenders or physically great midfielders = easy mode
Brazilian ronaldo would score 40-60 goals a year playing upfront in the Barca team of the last several years .
He scored 48 in a much weaker Barca team
There isn’t a single defender today that would get into a world 11 of the last 20 years , not one
And midfielders are pretty much the same