Maradona or Messi?

The current world record is 9.58. The first registered world record is 10.60 which was recorded in 1912. That means that men are only faster by 1.02 second despite 99 years of improving diet, training techniques and sports science.

Yet on this thread some people are arguing that the footballers of twenty years ago couldn't possibly compete physically with the modern players. I'm sorry but this is total rubbish.

By the way the world recorded in 1999 (about when Maradona retired) was 9.79 just 0.21 slower.

Edit: Just to make my point even clearer. This means our speed has improved by just 2.1% in the last 12 years (2.86% in the last 20 years based upon 9.86 record of 1991) which is lets face it barely noticeable. Sorry but the physical advancement argument is without foundation, especially as you would have to argue that the average pace of players has increased by the same amount, in which case you would also have to accept that Maradona's would have increased too.

 

Do I sense a bit of stereotyping here..

 

I thought that we just developed better drugs that are far harder to detect.

That and chicken nuggets of course.

 

Messi is currently the best player in the world IMHO

 

Currently yes, but we're comparing the two..Maradona the best then and Messi the best now