Maradona: Messi couldn't do what I did, but I'd like Napoli to sign him

Diego Armando Maradona says he would like Napoli to “have a Lionel Messi,” but says the Barcelona No 10 would never experience what “he went through” in the 1980s.

Maradona played for Napoli from 1984 to 1991, and secured two Scudetti, a Coppa Italia and a UEFA Cup during his turbulent stay in Naples.

Messi’s Barcelona faced Napoli last night at the Stadio San Paolo, in which the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Maradona was speaking to Argentine reporters before his side Gimnasia La Plata’s Argentina Cup game against Sportivo Barracas.

“I would have liked to have faced Messi. He arrived at the San Paolo when it’s in decline,” Maradona said in the mixed zone.

“Messi has never lived what I experienced, but he can play safely in Naples.

“He couldn’t do what I did, let’s clarify, but I’d like the Neapolitans to have a Messi.”

Maradona struggled to cope with his celebrity in the goldfish-bowl like environment of Naples, and repeatedly complained of a lack of privacy when playing for the Partenopei in the 1980s and early 1990s.