Fabio Capello praised Lionel Messi in an interview given to a newspaper, and the Italian even dared to say that he is Diego Maradona’s rightful successor. Besides, at the time comparing Dutch Arjen Robben and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, Capello said "The two of them are great players, but nobody in the world has the talent that Messi has.”
Another great player for the Italian is Spaniard striker David Villa, at Valencia. “Villa is really interesting, he has tactics, scores, and moves the ball greatly. He is really great and a great international soccer player, I think he has everything.”
For the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, Capello is cautious and prefers not to affirm anything at the time asked about England’s chances to victory the competition. “First we have to qualify,” Capello said, and considers Spain is one of the toughest national sides, better than Argentina, Brazil or Italy thanks to its “team, age and level of confidence”.
