Messi has outscored Maradona in all departments statistically. For the Argentina national team, Messi has scored 55 goals in 113 international appearances (0.491 per game average) compared to Maradona’s 34 goals in 91 games (0.374 per game). Messi is now Argentina’s highest goalscorer. Among the now active players, only Sergio Aguero (33) and Gonzalo Higuain (30) can speak of breaking the record and still they are nowhere close. The below infographic is an old one from my previous answer. But still you can see that Messi lead Maradona in all aspects.

At club level, Messi has amassed 412 goals in 482 games, compared to Maradona’s 312 in 588 matches (161 goals for European Clubs and 151 in Argentina). Messi has won 7 league titles whereas Maradona only 3 (His contribution to Napoli should not be overlooked, of course).

Champion’s League is considered the highest standard of football in the world right now. Jose Mourinho famously said that the UEFA Champions League is ‘more important’ than the FIFA World Cup; Sir Alex Ferguson and Wesley Sneijder have endorsed Mourinho’s view. And Messi has won 4 of those with Barcelona playing a key role in all of them. However, Maradona has won none.

Messi has been named world footballer of the year four times (and has huge chances for a fifth one also); Maradona earned the accolade only once.

Yes, Maradona’s era had physical and brutal defenders. To score those goals during that period, despite his physical stature, Maradona is truly talented. But, football today is very technical and tactical – a thinking man’s game. Managers have latest technologies at their disposal to review, preview and plan the matches beforehand. More than the players’ talents, it is the tactics that wins matches. Finals of 2014 World Cup and 2015 Copa America are proof of that. Messi was rendered almost useless with heavy man-marking. Despite all that tactics and marking, Messi has been able to showcase his talents/skills which have won/almost won many matches. Again, the finals of 2014 World Cup and 2015 Copa America are proof. That left us pondering over the question – Had Higuain taken those chances?. I will never forget those awesome 3 minutes in the 2014-15 UEFA CL semifinal first leg against Bayern Munich.