Lionel Messi. He recently even surpassed most goals for a club. He was touted as maradona successor which is an impossible bar and he has lived up to it. In contrast, not a single "messi" successor is even remotely close to him.
Most importantly, if you ignore a couple of tax evasion issues he seems like an all-right guy.
Maradona was a drug addict and wife beater who fathered a dozen unrecognised children and was a horrible person overall. He became a national embarrassment for Argentina ever since he was kicked out of the world cup for doping.
In contrast, Messi's positive legacy will hopefully endure for longer.
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.
