With Pele’s passing this Wednesday, two of the greatest players to set foot on a soccer field are no longer with us. But up until this day the debate about who was better, Pele or Maradonacontinues to divide opinions.
Despite having multiple run ins, especially during Maradona’s playing days, the two players enjoyed a mutual respect relationship, in fact several years ago when the Argentinian superstar was still playing, a reporter asked him who was better, him or Pele.
Maradona answered quickly:
“No, no, Maradona is Maradona, Pele was the greatest, I’m just a normal player… I don’t try to emulate Pele, everybody knows he was the greatest ever”, was said by the historical number 10.
Pele and Maradona by the numbers
Pele and Maradona both had the same number of titles throughout their careers, with 14 trophies won between their clubs and national team’s. The difference is which trophies each won, with “O’ Rei” having the record for the only player who has won three FIFA World Cupsafter his titles in Sweden 1958, Chile 1962 and Mexico 1970.
They both played a similar number of games with their national team Maradona scoring 34 goals in 91 games with Argentinawhile Pele scored 77 in 90 games with Brazil.
Maradona won the 1986 FIFA World Cup and reached the 1990’s FIFA World Cup final against Germanybut unfortunately lost.
This was Pele’s message on Twitter after Maradona’s passing in 2020.
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