Atlético Madrid head coach Diego Simeone has this weekend revealed his take that his native Argentina were lucky enough to witness the two greatest players in football history don their famed blue and white stripes.

This of course comes fresh off one such player calling time on his fabled international career earlier this week.

Lionel Messi on Wednesday took to the pitch for Argentina for the very last time, in a friendly meeting with Benin. This brought the curtain down on nothing short of a historic chapter, highlighted by well over 100 goals, a World Cup trophy, and a pair of Copa América titles.

Speaking during an exchange with the media in the days which followed, the aforementioned Diego Simeone, an Argentine icon himself, was therefore drawn on Messi’s legacy.

And as part of a lengthy response, the tactician went on to reveal his take that Messi and Diego Maradona are the two ‘best in history’:

“I am not going to get into the easy, demagogic game of choosing one of them (Diego Maradona or Messi). I was lucky enough to play with Maradona and I was not lucky enough to play with Messi. The truth is that we Argentines are grateful to have had two extraordinary footballers, the best in history.”

Simeone continued:

“In terms of numbers, Messi is unbeatable. The growth he has shown as a person and as a sportsman has broken every possible barrier, because he has always handled it from a position of respect and good behaviour, and that is difficult to maintain for 20 or 25 years; I do not even know how many years he has been playing now.

“As an Argentine, I am grateful to him for everything he gave us, because he gave us so much joy, but above all for what he taught us, because he taught us to fight and, when things go badly, to keep insisting. And that is Messi’s greatest value for Argentines, at least for me.”