Diego Maradona has said that Lionel Messi is “playing a kick-about with Jesus” but believes the Barcelona maestro must stay mentally strong to avoid making the same mistakes which curtailed his own career.

Argentina coach Maradona also said the debate as to ‘who was the greatest footballer ever’ will only be determined when the 22 year-old hangs up his boots.

“He’s at a divine level, being the best in the world and a star at Barcelona. Lio is playing kick-about with Jesus,” Maradona said as he reacted to Messi’s four-goal showing, which knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League.

“There are moments when you are invaded by loneliness, but you have to be strong so you don’t end up doing things one did,” he said.

“I spoke to him a lot about this,” Maradona added in radio interview in Buenos Aires.

Maradona said that after Argentina’s World Cup warm-up against Germany in Munich on March 3, a 1-0 win, he spent two hours with Messi talking about many issues.

“I told him I’d done my thing, now he has to make his career and at the end we’ll see who was the greatest of all time. But he’s on the right path. I saw that he’s mature and full of will,” Maradona said.

“How could I not be happy for Messi to win the World Cup. The Maradona and Pele polemics will end and the best thing is that Messi is Argentine.”