Diego Maradona sees Barcelona's Lionel Messi as the player who can embody his inspirational style on the pitch, the Argentinian soccer legend said on Saturday (December 6) in Kolkata.
The Argentina coach is on a two-day visit to the city which is seen as the main centre for soccer in cricket-mad India.
Putting Messi a notch above Brazilian Ronaldinho, the Argentine coach said he expected Messi to do great things in the 2010 World Cup.

"I think that Ronaldinho has earned a lot ... Read more

Diego Maradona sees Barcelona's Lionel Messi as the player who can embody his inspirational style on the pitch, the Argentinian soccer legend said on Saturday (December 6) in Kolkata.
The Argentina coach is on a two-day visit to the city which is seen as the main centre for soccer in cricket-mad India.
Putting Messi a notch above Brazilian Ronaldinho, the Argentine coach said he expected Messi to do great things in the 2010 World Cup.

"I think that Ronaldinho has earned a lot in his life. He has seen a lot in his life. But Messi has still many miles to go. I think Messi would be having only 10 years to improve in his life and would be having a lot of time to improve and I think he would be doing great in 2010 and I think he would be doing like me," Maradona said.
Messi goes into the 2010 World Cup, assuming Argentina qualify, with a similar background to Maradona's pre-1986, both with a World Youth Cup victory under their belts followed by frustration in the senior tournament.
Maradona, who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup win and took charge as national coach last month, told the news conference he was confident his team would shine in the 2010 finals in South Africa.
Maradona gave his good wishes to soccer in Indian, saying domestic soccer stars need to be nurtured well to produce world-class players.
India, former Asian Games champions, now has a world ranking of 153 and is placed 24th in Asia.
In a lighter vein, Maradona said he continued to be the world's number one as his mother considered him to be so.

"My mother considers me to be the greatest footballer in the world and if my mother considers me to be the greatest footballer in the world then surely I am the greatest footballer in the world," he said.
Thousands of excited fans lined the road to give Maradona an emotional welcome to Kolkata earlier in the day.
Maradona inaugurated a private soccer academy on the outskirts of Kolkata after being flown there by helicopter due to tight security following last week's Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 170 people.
On Sunday, Maradona will visit the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity to pay homage to their founder, Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, who died in 1997. Close