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- Players observe a minute of silence for former Argentina soccer great Diego Armando Maradona before the Champions League, Group B, soccer match between Borussia Moenchengladbach and Shakhtar Donetsk at the Borussia Park in Moenchengladbach, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
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- Players observe a minute of silence for the recently deceased Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona prior the start of the Champions League Group A soccer match between Bayern Munich and RB Salzburg at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Czech Republic, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
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- A man cries under a mural depicting soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Naples, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. Diego Maradona has died. The Argentine soccer great was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. He was 60. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
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- A man touches a poster of soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Naples, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. Diego Maradona has died. The Argentine soccer great was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. He was 60. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP)
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- People light flares as they gather under a mural depicting soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Naples, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. Diego Maradona has died. The Argentine soccer great was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. He was 60. (Fabio Sasso/LaPresse via AP)
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- Candles lie next to a picture of Diego Armando Maradona outside the San Paolo Stadium to pay their homage to the late soccer legend, in Naples, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. Diego Maradona has died. The Argentine soccer great was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. He was 60. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
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- People gather outside the San Paolo Stadium to pay their homage to soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Naples, Italy, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. Diego Maradona has died. The Argentine soccer great was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. He was 60. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
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- A soccer fan kisses a poster of Diego Maradona at the entrance of the Boca Juniors stadium, known as La Bombomera, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. The Argentine soccer great who was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity, died from a heart attack on Wednesday at his home in Buenos Aires. He was 60. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
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- Soccer fans hold a vigil for Diego Maradona outside the stadium of Argentinos Juniors soccer club, where he started as a professional footballer, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020. The Argentine soccer great who was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title died from a heart attack at his home in Buenos Aires. He was 60. (AP Photo/Marcos Brindicci)
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- CORRECTS LOCATION – FILE – In this March 1987 file photo, Pele, left, and Diego Maradona, hold trophies during an awards ceremony in Italy. The Argentine soccer great who was among the best players ever and who led his country to the 1986 World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity, died from a heart attack on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020, at his home in Buenos Aires. He was 60. (AP Photo/File)
The most heated wrangling over the title of soccer’s greatest player could be found between Diego Maradona and Pelé themselves.
So often, their squabbling would descend into acrimonious barbs and taunts launched between the finest to play the game.
It was a feud in which FIFA did not want to takes sides when it came to naming the top player of the 20th century. Pelé was the pick of experts. Maradona was the people’s choice as the winner of an online vote. So they shared the award and continued to bicker in public.
“He thinks it’s him,” Pelé once said. “But we all really know who was the best.”
Being born 20 years apart meant the duo never settled their rivalry on the pitch.
Interviewed once by Pelé, Maradona playfully asked the Brazilian three-time World Cup winner how he accumulated an apparent goal total of 1,281.
“Who did you score them against?” Maradona asked. “Your nephews in the backyard?”
But behind the enmity, there was a mutual admiration that was evident through the grief as Pele paid tribute to Maradona, who died Wednesday at the age of 60.
“I have lost a dear friend, and the world has lost a legend,” the 80-year-old Pelé said. “One day, I hope, we will play football together in the sky.”
The sadness across Argentina was articulated by one of the few players who comes close to matching Maradona’s artistry with the ball.
“He leaves us,” Argentine forward Lionel Messi said, “but he is not gone because Diego is eternal.”
The 33-year-old Messi still strives to emulate his hero by winning a World Cup with Argentina, a triumph that could settle the 21st century’s version of the Maradona-Pelé debate as he duels with Cristiano Ronaldo for soccer greatness.
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