Maradona was always see as the star of the teams where he played, even when he was young. Plus he came from a poblacion, those ghettos in Argentina where people live with next to nothing. Messi on the other side came from a middle class family, and had his dream of being a professional player broke as a young kid by Newells due to his height problems.

The two has different histories, and should not be compared I think., except on the football side.