Lionel Messi and Inter Miami visited the White House, where they were warmly welcomed by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who did not hesitate to shower praise on the Argentine, just as he had previously done with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The first visit belonged to the Portuguese star, but the truth is that across these visits-and one more-Trump praised these two footballers, in addition to mentioning Pelé, who was the first one he met, while completely omitting Diego Armando Maradona.
What Donald Trump said to Lionel Messi during his White House visit
“Leo, you came in and you won, and that’s something very hard to do, very, very unusual and frankly, there’s a lot more pressure put on you than anyone would know, because you sort of expected to win, but almost nobody wins,” Trump said.
“My son is a huge fan of your football and of a guy named Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano is great, you are both great champions and athletes in your sport,” Trump told a visibly nervous Lionel Messi.
Last February, the President of the United States praised Cristiano Ronaldo and called him the greatest of all time. He also spoke about Pelé in 2025.
“Many years ago, when I was young, they brought a player called Pelé to play and he played for a team called the New York Cosmos,” Trump said on DAZN in July 2025.
“And this place was packed-it was an earlier version of this stadium [MetLife Stadium] and it was Pelé.
“I don’t want to date myself but that was a long time ago and I was a young guy so I came to watch Pelé and he was fantastic.
“So probably I’ll go old-fashioned-that’s like saying Babe Ruth-and say Pelé was so great.”
But between White House visits and his on-camera comments, it’s clear these figures are not strangers to him-yet Donald Trump has completely erased Diego Armando Maradona from his mind, the player who normally enters the debate over the greatest footballer of all time.
The President of the United States has never mentioned his name even once, even though he is a contemporary player, only bringing up Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Pelé in his conversations.
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