When Diego Maradona sent a young Lionel Messi running from one side of the field to the other
Sixteen years before his retirement, Argentina’s future No. 10 was still learning from the man he idolized
D iego Maradona sends the ball toward one side of the field and Lionel Messi runs after it. Messi controls it, returns the pass and then has to move again when Maradona sends the ball in another direction. There is no formal competition between them, just Argentina’s coach personally warming up the young player expected to inherit his legendary No. 10.
The footage was recorded during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 16 years before Messi announced his retirement from Argentina. He began that tournament at 22 and turned 23 during the competition. Messi had already won his first Ballon d’Or and was a superstar with Barcelona, but he had not yet become the national hero who would finally deliver Argentina’s greatest trophies.
Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi shared Argentina’s No. 10 for almost two years
Maradona coached Messi with Argentina for almost two years, from late 2008 until the end of the 2010 World Cup. Together they survived a difficult qualifying campaign and won their first four matches in South Africa before Germany eliminated them 4-0 in the quarterfinals.
They never won a trophy together, but Maradona publicly defended Messi and even personally helped him improve the free kicks that would later become one of his greatest weapons.
As players, their international careers defined two generations. Maradona represented Argentina from 1977 to 1994, scoring 34 goals in 91 appearances and leading the country to the 1986 World Cup title and the 1990 final.
Messi played for the senior team from 2005 to 2026 and retired with national records of 207 appearances and 125 goals, along with the 2022 World Cup, the 2021 and 2024 Copa América titles and the 2022 Finalissima.
Sixteen years after that simple passing drill, Maradona is gone and Messi has officially played his final match for Argentina. The young player, once running from side to side for his idol, eventually carried the same No. 10, lifted the World Cup and completed a journey that had always been measured against Maradona’s.
What once looked like an ordinary warm-up now feels like the moment one era quietly handed the ball to the next. And as Messi’s era begins to say goodbye, one question remains: who will he pass the ball to?
