Pele claims he was a better player than ‘one skill’ Lionel Messi

I love watching Messi and I dont think we will see a player like him again but could you imagine pele or matadonna in today's game with the sports science bowling green pitches etc
 
Messi showing how he can only do one thing again tonight...

Scored two free kicks, took on half the team for an assists and was passing it about like Xavi and Pirlo combined.
 
Comparisons between Messi and Maradona are futile. Maradona played in a era unrecognisable to the modern player. A wild, violent game then played by the hard bastard hatchet men defenders and opponents.

Maradona is the Most fouled player in W.C. history. 82, 86 & 90.

In one game alone against Italy in the 82 W.C he was fouled 30 plus times. A record even today. And a record for the whole tournament considering his nation was knocked out at the 2nd Round stage.

Another stat. Maradona was only the second player ever to score against every single one of his opposition teams in Serie A. The Best and hardest and toughest league in World Football at that time.

I could go on and on regarding facts about him but I won't. He along with Pele IS football and will still be remembered in 40 plus years time like he is today. Messi will be in the limelight until someone else comes along to take over the baton from him and CR7 etc from this era but they won't be remembered the way Maradona or Pele are.
 
“Toughest, hardest, most violent, Hatchet, men, tackles”

Desperate trying to make it sound like UFC and yet a scrawny 5’4” midget survived it. Same old pish.
 
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Comparisons between Messi and Maradona are futile. Maradona played in a era unrecognisable to the modern player. A wild, violent game then played by the hard bastard hatchet men defenders and opponents.

Maradona is the Most fouled player in W.C. history. 82, 86 & 90.

In one game alone against Italy in the 82 W.C he was fouled 30 plus times. A record even today. And a record for the whole tournament considering his nation was knocked out at the 2nd Round stage.

Another stat. Maradona was only the second player ever to score against every single one of his opposition teams in Serie A. The Best and hardest and toughest league in World Football at that time.

I could go on and on regarding facts about him but I won't. He along with Pele IS football and will still be remembered in 40 plus years time like he is today. Messi will be in the limelight until someone else comes along to take over the baton from him and CR7 etc from this era but they won't be remembered the way Maradona or Pele are.

That last paragraph especially is utter utter nonsense
 
“Toughest, hardest, most violent, Hatchet, men, tackles”

Desperate trying to make it sound like UFC and yet a scrawny 5’4” midget survived it. Same old pish.
It's a fact. The toughest, best defenders in the world played in Serie A at the same time as Maradona.
Messi is probably world's best player now. However, it's also a fact he'll never be remembered in the same way as Maradona, or Pele. These two are uniquely brilliant in a way Messi can't match.
I don't think it is possible for modern era football to produce a Pele or Maradona again. Talented kids are signed to clubs very young, and they are coached rigorously within a strict system. Individual brilliance, uniqueness, and freedom of expression will always be stifled to an extent in kids who play today. Pele learned tricks playing football with match boxes and oranges. Maradona trained his football mind playing football in the dark. Both played football every day on streets and waste grounds from morning to night. No kid with any ability has to start like that today. The very idea of not having a ball, not having quality facilities, not having highly trained coaches, not earning over 50k a year by sixteen, is unfathomable to today's best kids. Their ambition, hunger, ability and contribution on the pitch are developed in a different way. The lucky few who go onto become the world's best don't lack anything. Their skills, hard work, contribution to the team, it's all there, but without an element of unique individualism gained playing football against every kid on the scheme from morning to night time. Messi has done nothing I haven't seen Maradona do. Maradona has done things I haven't seen Messi do.
The greatest players the world has ever seen are Pele and Maradona. Maybe they will be surpassed in the future. However, the guys who are capable of doing it are not known yet.
 
There's some truly mental posts on this thread haha :D

It's quite good fun actually.

It's what I imagine a debate in the 90s to have been like between a separate group of Westlife and Boyzone groupies.
 
If taken on achievement at international level then Messi falls short and this is perhaps his one significant flaw . Pele won the lot and would have been a fantastic player in the modern game power poise ability and goals goals goals. Messi will also be remembered as a fantastic player playing in a side that suits him but Pele shades it for me
 
If taken on achievement at international level then Messi falls short and this is perhaps his one significant flaw . Pele won the lot and would have been a fantastic player in the modern game power poise ability and goals goals goals. Messi will also be remembered as a fantastic player playing in a side that suits him but Pele shades it for me

Why is it Messi has to achieve international success to be up there with Maradona and Pele but Maradona and Pele don't have to match Messi's club success to be considered up there with him?
 
It's a fact. The toughest, best defenders in the world played in Serie A at the same time as Maradona.
Messi is probably world's best player now. However, it's also a fact he'll never be remembered in the same way as Maradona, or Pele. These two are uniquely brilliant in a way Messi can't match.
I don't think it is possible for modern era football to produce a Pele or Maradona again. Talented kids are signed to clubs very young, and they are coached rigorously within a strict system. Individual brilliance, uniqueness, and freedom of expression will always be stifled to an extent in kids who play today. Pele learned tricks playing football with match boxes and oranges. Maradona trained his football mind playing football in the dark. Both played football every day on streets and waste grounds from morning to night. No kid with any ability has to start like that today. The very idea of not having a ball, not having quality facilities, not having highly trained coaches, not earning over 50k a year by sixteen, is unfathomable to today's best kids. Their ambition, hunger, ability and contribution on the pitch are developed in a different way. The lucky few who go onto become the world's best don't lack anything. Their skills, hard work, contribution to the team, it's all there, but without an element of unique individualism gained playing football against every kid on the scheme from morning to night time. Messi has done nothing I haven't seen Maradona do. Maradona has done things I haven't seen Messi do.
The greatest players the world has ever seen are Pele and Maradona. Maybe they will be surpassed in the future. However, the guys who are capable of doing it are not known yet.

Misty eyed nostalgic nonsense mate. And I hate to tell you old timer, but in 15-20 years when that generation are gone, no one will remember them and Messi will very much be the one with the aura, the one who is remembered and hailed, as he actually is by a whole load of old football coaches and players from that era anyway, guys that not only saw him but got to play on the same pitch as Diego and didn’t just seem in a 4 or 5 games every couple of years like you folks, ie the Linekers, Wengers, Souness’s etc.
 
I know nostalgia plays a big part but when you look at video footage from Pele's time it's absolutely comical. I've seen better games at the juniors.

Not only that, but even later generations (ie. Cruyff doing his famous turn). That skill was revolutionary yet 3 and 4 year olds could do it with relative ease nowadays.
 
Misty eyed nostalgic nonsense mate. And I hate to tell you old timer, but in 15-20 years when that generation are gone, no one will remember them and Messi will very much be the one with the aura, the one who is remembered and hailed, as he actually is by a whole load of old football coaches and players from that era anyway, guys that not only saw him but got to play on the same pitch as Diego and didn’t just seem in a 4 or 5 games every couple of years like you folks, ie the Linekers, Wengers, Souness’s etc.

You talk utter pish give up.
 
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