Football icon and Argentina skipper Lionel Messi has responded in classy fashion to the son of Diego Maradona who took aim at the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner after their shocking start to the Qatar World Cup.
Argentina were on the wrong end of a stunning 2-1 scoreline as Saudi Arabia, ranked outside of the top 50 teams in the world according to FIFA, pulled off one of the biggest World Cup upsets in history. Messi actually put Lionel Scaloni's men in front against Saudi Arabia from the penalty spot, before having another goal ruled out for offside.
Before a ball had been kicked out in Qatar, many had compared Messi to the legendary figure that is Maradona. This despite the fact that while the now late, great Maradona has won the World Cup, the current Paris Saint-Germain superstar is yet to get his hands on football's most coveted trophy.
"The comparison between Messi and my dad is made by those who don't see and don't understand football," Diego Maradona Jr. told Radio Marte (via Marca ). "We're talking about two different planets, but I don't want to immediately throw the cross at Lionel.
"I am devastated by this defeat," added the star's son, who, while born in Italy actually considers himself an Argentina fan.
"I find it hard to believe that all this really happened.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Is comparing Messi's legacy to Maradona's unfair? Comment below
"Losing to Saudi Arabia is crazy. They were quite scared. Football is like that. They come to you. Sometimes it happens that you lose even against much weaker opponents."
Clearly in the mood to keep things more respectful, Messi did take to social media to issue a simple tribute to the great of the game on what was the two-year anniversary of his death.
He uploaded a picture of the former Argentina boss in action from his playing days, with no caption.
Messi took the recent defeat to Saudi Arabia as hard as any Argentine and was in no mood to hold back in the aftermath.
"In five minutes of errors we lost the lead and found ourselves 1-2 down," the former Barcelona star said. "We messed up, we threw crosses into the box and the game became a little complicated."
Messi did issue a rally cry to his team-mates ahead of match-day two against Mexico, adding: "There are no excuses. We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong, and we have shown it.
"It is a situation that we haven’t gone through in a long time. Now, we have to show that this is a real group."
