Diego Maradona vs Lionel Messi

In Argentina's 1986 World Cup title run, Diego Maradona scored or assisted on 10 of Argentina's 14 goals. This year so far, Lionel Messi has scored or assisted on five of Argentina's eight goals.
Here we take a look at how these two Argentine giants match up. Both have 91 caps, while Messi has 42 goals to Maradona's 34.

DIEGO MARADONA - 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994

WC games - 21
WC goals - 8 (8 assists)
Touches - 1468 (183.5 touches/goal)
Min. played - 2007 (250.9 min/goal)
Shots on goal - 26 (44.1% on target)
Shot avg. dist. - 21.7 yards (0 goals outside box)
Total shots - 59 (30.8% on goal)

LIONEL MESSI - 2006, 2010, 2014

WC games - 13
WC goals - 5 (3 Assists)
Touches - 891 (178.2 touches/goal)
Min. played - 1042 (208.4 min/goal)
Shots on goal - 21 (42.9% on target)
Shot avg. dist. - 22.1 yards (3 goals outside box)
Total shots - 49 (23.8% on goal)

Average World Cup goal distance

Maradona and Messi have done their World Cup scoring in very different ways.

Argentina World Cup performances - Maradona '86 vs. Messi '14
Goals: Maradona (5) - Messi (5)
Assists: Maradona (4) - Messi (1)
Team goals: Maradona (14) - Messi (8)
Percentage of team goals: Maradona (71.4%) - Messi (62.5%)
World Cup titles: Maradona (1) - Messi (TBD)
All-time caps
1. Javier Zanetti - 145
2. Roberto Ayala - 115
3. Diego Simeone - 106
4. Javier Mascherano - 103
5. Oscar Ruggeri - 97
6= Lionel Messi - 91
6= Diego Maradona - 91
8. Ariel Ortega - 87
9. Gabriel Batistuta - 78
10. Juan Pablo Sorin - 76