In The Soccer 100, the Athletic’s list of the greatest footballers in history, Lionel Messi is ranked number one. Perhaps. But he might also be its most boring—at least as a man. For Michael Cox, a contributor to The Soccer 100, Messi is undeniably great, but compared to his fellow Argentine Diego Maradona, he’s a nonentity. Football is theater. That’s why it’s the world’s game. So it’s the tragic narratives of a Maradona or a Jimmy Greaves we most remember and cherish. The game is beautiful because of the poetry, not the prose, of its stars.
* Messi has ticked every box except one: being interesting. Cox voted for Messi as the greatest, but concedes Maradona and Cruyff “go above and beyond everyone else” in terms of personality. Messi left Argentina at thirteen, never had Maradona’s volcanic connection with his country, and may never be held in quite the same esteem at home.
* Di Stefano was stolen from Barcelona by Franco—and the theft created football’s greatest rivalry. Before the heist, Real Madrid’s main rivals were Atletico. The loss of the era’s best player helped transform Barcelona vs. Real into what it is today.
* England doesn’t produce geniuses because English football is suspicious of them. Cox: “There’s often been a desire to amalgamate mavericks into a system rather than bringing out the best in them.” The culture values hard work, scrappiness, physicality. Jimmy Greaves—perhaps the greatest English player ever—was left out of the 1966 final and later sold without his knowledge.
* The 2026 World Cup may be a logistical and competitive disaster. Forty-eight teams, three countries, more group-stage matches than any previous tournament just to get down to thirty-two. Cox: “There’ll be a few teams there who with respect just won’t be able to compete.”
* The greatest goal in history wasn’t Maradona’s solo run—it was Pele’s pass. Cox prefers the Carlos Alberto goal: team football as poetry, five number tens on the same wavelength, and the simplest possible finish after exhausting Italy with collective brilliance.
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