’Diego said it without jealousy’: Ex-wife reveals Maradona’s private verdict on Messi

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BUENOS AIRES / DOHA – The question has haunted Argentine taverns, taxi queues, and living rooms for nearly two decades: Who is the greatest—Diego Armando Maradona or Lionel Andrés Messi? For years, the comparison was treated almost as sacrilege, a forbidden debate that pitted generations against one another. But according to the woman who knew Maradona best—not just as a lover, but as his manager, his business partner, and the mother of his two daughters—the late No. 10 settled the matter himself, long before the world could agree.

Claudia Villafañe, who was married to Maradona from 1984 to 2003 and remained his legal representative until his death in 2020, broke her silence this week in a revealing interview on the Argentine entertainment program LAM. Speaking just hours before La Albiceleste’s nerve-shredding semifinal victory over England—a fixture that carries the weight of the Malvinas/Falklands conflict and the ghost of the 1986 Azteca miracle—Villafañe delivered a confession that instantly ricocheted across every social media platform in the country.

“Diego said it clearly, and he said it more than once,” Villafañe told the panel, her voice steady but laden with emotion. “He acknowledged that Leo is a better footballer than himself. And I want to emphasize this—there was not a single hint of jealousy in those words. Not one. It was pure, unvarnished admiration for what that boy has done for our national shirt.”

The revelation is particularly striking given Maradona’s famously complex psyche—a man who fed on adulation and rarely conceded ground to any rival. Yet Villafañe, who managed his finances, negotiated his contracts, and raised their daughters Dalma and Gianinna through the tempest of his fame, was granted access to his most unguarded moments. According to her, Maradona made the admission during a private afternoon at their home in Buenos Aires, while watching Messi dismantle a European defense on television. “He turned to me and said, ‘Look at that, Claudia. I could do many things, but that control at full sprint? He does it better. He is more complete,'” she recalled.

She went further, lavishing praise on the current captain as “an incredible phenomenon”—a phrase that, coming from the keeper of Maradona’s flame, resonates with seismic force. “What Leo does on the pitch is not just football,” she added. “It is art. But more than that, it is the dignity with which he carries the weight of 45 million people. Diego respected that because he knew exactly how heavy that burden is.”

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A Superstition Forged in Solitude

While her words have dominated headlines, Villafañe also offered a rare glimpse into her personal ritual during this World Cup campaign—a routine that has transformed her home into a private sanctuary of anxiety and hope.

Since the tournament’s opening match, she has watched every Argentina game entirely alone. No family members, no friends, no television crews. Just her sofa, her television, and the silence of her living room in Buenos Aires’ exclusive Nordelta neighborhood.

“It started as a coincidence during the first match,” she explained with a knowing smile. “But after the victory, I told myself: ‘Do not change a thing.’ Now it’s a superstition I am terrified to break. I draw the curtains at kickoff, I mute the phone, and I sit in the exact same corner of the sofa. At halftime, I get up, walk to the kitchen, and I don’t sit back down until the second whistle blows. It’s absurd, I know. But this is how I love my country.”

During the semifinal against England—a match that evoked the ghost of 1986, a year she missed at the Azteca because she was pregnant with Dalma—she admitted to pacing furiously during the penalty shootout. “I couldn’t breathe. I turned off the sound because the commentators were making me anxious. When the final spot-kick went in, I screamed so loudly that my neighbor knocked on the wall to check if I was alright.”

She noted the poignant parallel with Maradona’s own heroics against the same opponent 40 years ago. “I wasn’t there that day in Mexico City. I watched it on a small television in Buenos Aires, pregnant and terrified. Now, I watch this generation write their own history from the same city, in the same solitude. The opponent is the same, but the feeling is even deeper because I know Diego is watching from somewhere, proud of the shirt.”

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The Nation Reacts: A Legacy Finally at Peace

Villafañe’s interview has landed like a thunderclap in a country where football is religion and the Maradona-Messi debate is its most contentious theological schism. Outside the Obelisco in Buenos Aires, where thousands gathered to celebrate the semifinal win, fans chanted a new refrain: “Diego con Leo, los dos en el cielo” (Diego with Leo, both in heaven).

Within the Argentine camp in Doha, sources close to the dressing room told local media that several players had viewed the clip, though Messi himself has yet to comment publicly—a silence that speaks volumes about his lifelong discomfort with the comparison. Yet those who know the captain suggest the endorsement from Maradona’s inner circle will bring him a quiet, profound peace.

For Villafañe, the message is ultimately one of unity rather than division. She has spent the years since Maradona’s death defending his legacy against exploitation while also embracing Messi’s as the natural heir. “Argentina does not need to choose,” she concluded, her voice firm. “Diego will always be Diego—the rebellious genius who pulled us out of the dirt. And Leo will always be Leo—the silent artist who lifted us to the stars. But if Diego himself said it, who are we to argue? We are not rivals in this house. We are witnesses. We are the lucky ones—blessed, truly blessed—to have lived through both.”

As the nation holds its breath ahead of the World Cup final, one image endures: Claudia Villafañe, alone in her darkened living room, the glow of the television flickering across her face, one hand clutching a rosary given to her by Maradona in 1986, and her eyes fixed on the man Diego himself anointed as the best. 🇦🇷❤️