Maradona: Brazil Would Not Have Beaten Spain On Neutral Ground

The 52-year old Argentina legend believes that Brazil wouldn't have beaten Spain in the final of the just concluded Fifa Confederations Cup hosted by Brazil had the match been played at a neutral venue. The European and world champions were convincingly beaten 3-0 at the Maracana Stadium, thanks to a brace from Fred and the last goal from no other person than Neymar himself when he brilliantly combined with the skillful Oscar before cleverly pulling back himself from a suspected off-side position and then superbly slammed a toe-pass from the Chelsea star into the right side of the post. But the 52-year-old feels the hostile environment affected Vicente del Bosque's men. "Spain were unlucky that the tournament was being played in Brazil. They looked promising. Brazil wouldn't have beaten them had the game been played on neutral ground," he told reporters on a visit to Indonesia. The Napoli former playmaker then went on to hip praises on Lionel Messi and stressed that the Barcelona star is still a cut above Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo. "Messi remains the best in the world. He is still a better player than Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo." Maradona also had something to say about the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and he is hopeful that Argentina can emerge victorious in that tournament. "Next year's World Cup belongs to South Americans. I hope Argentina will be crowned champions," he added. Following this outbursts from Maradona, one can always sense there will surely be some sort of reaction from Pele since the two men sometimes seem to be highly overwhelmed by high sense of sentiments and emotions when it comes to star players coming from their respective homelands. Surely, it's only a matter of time before we start hearing the Pele' own version of the counter outbursts!