Napoli coach Gattuso hails rival striker ahead of Last-16 first leg encounter against Barcelona tonight
Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Eibar during a Spanish league match at the Camp Nou Stadium on Saturday. Pic/AFP
Lionel Messi is the "greatest" footballer of all time, ahead of even Diego Maradona, Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso said on Monday ahead of his side's Champions League clash with Barcelona. Messi, 32, scored four goals at the weekend in Barcelona's 5-0 win over Eibar and has now been involved in more than 1,000 goals in his career, scoring 696 and assisting another 306.
Gattuso was quick to praise Messi, comparing the Barca star to Napoli legend Maradona. "He's the greatest and an example for everyone," said Gattuso ahead of the sides' Last-16 first leg tonight.
"He never says anything inappropriate. He does things that only exist on the Playstation, unthinkable things. But I saw him [Maradona] on VHS, or DVD. I never saw him up close, at a stadium. I know the champion he was and I know I missed something wonderful. I regret it. Today I see Messi doing things that Maradona was doing." Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne was not so keen to accept that Messi has reached greater heights than 1986 World Cup winner Maradona. "Messi is the best in the world today," said Insigne.
Gennaro Gattuso
"But for us Neapolitans, Maradona is everything and I don't want to compare them. Maradona is sacred," Insigne added. But Insigne and Gattuso agreed that their team have to be careful not to focus only on trying to stop Messi. "We have to be careful with their whole team, because it's not just Messi," said Gattuso.
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