Kempes.....................
..................................Messi
Maradona
Mascherano........Ardiles
Sorin............................................Zanetti
Ayala...................Ruggeri
Passarella
Fillol
I don't really see an issue with 08-11 Messi, who was more of a direct goalscoring RWF, and either one of Di Stefano or Maradona. Esp since Messi is an outlier with his decision making skills and his ability to ideally balance his individualism whilst conforming to the overall setup (younger Messi). He was hardly the frustrating, overly individualistic star player who tried to do it all by himself or dominate proceedings, with things having to run through him (ala Maradona/Di Stefano).
That being said, a 3-5-2 will hand Messi the freedom in the final third, Maradona the reigns and Kempes should be the ideal foil with his industry, physicality and dynamism off the ball. Passarella should have
more license to bomb forward as and when he sees fit, with a back 5 and Mascherano in particular, having the nous and the experience to step back into defense when required.
Ardiles should provide the right blend of creativity, trickiness and drive, so as to not make the midfield overly defensive or predictable.
With regards to Passarella-Maradona, I can certainly agree with the clash of egos as both were crazy nutters of the highest order but the rhetoric of Passarella requiring too much tactical accommodating for his attacking prowess is overplayed at times imo.
He was exceptionally disciplined and not exactly a berserker libero who HAD to attack or go on rampages incessantly. In the 78 WC for instance, he was a rather defensive and level minded and a stoic figure at the back, preferring to utilise his ball playing skills to keep things rolling whilst occasionally venturing forward. Put it this way, on the scale of Figueroa to Beckenbauer in the 'libero stakes', Passarella was in the middle or thereabouts but closer to Figueroa on the spectrum, as a disciplined hard-as-nails, defense first, sweeper of sorts imo.
