In an interview published by French newspaper Le Monde on Friday, Pelé was quoted saying Messi couldn’t be considered as one of football’s greatest players yet because of his international record with Argentina.
But speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Maradona leapt to the defence of his compatriot and insisted he was not surprised by the 71-year olds comments.
”This is maybe due to old age affecting Pelé’s decision-making,” the Al-Wasl coach said.
”You can’t blame him for comments like this, he hasn’t done anything in 20 years. I’ve not even seen him go out to the supermarket.”
”Journalists ask him questions because he’s got nothing else to do with his life and he tells them stuff like this.”
