22 Oct 2015 12:37:51
Top 3 players of all time?
Maradona, messi, Pele for me.
If messi plays at this level for another two years I'd put him as the greatest.

1.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 13:19:35
Messi is great with great players around him. Could he come to Liverpool or a Chelsea and be as prolific as he has been. Known fact that in Spain. Most of the lower clubs play there squad players against the top two as they know it's a loss regardless.
Messi does not have a great international scoring record either, I don't believe he adapts to play that's not suited to him.

2.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 14:24:53
Messis is and will NEVER be in Diego`s or pele`s class. I grew up watching both Pele (some) and Maradona (his whole career) and there is no comparison. Pele was in advance and did things on the pitch that no one had ever done before him especially at 17 on the biggest stage. Maradona played on average teams and made them better. It was really Maradonna and 10 others on those Napoli and Argentina teams he took from obscurity to champions and UEFA winners and World champions. Let me know when Messi has achieved any of the above and we can talk then.

3.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 14:26:05
Messi will never rank alongside Maradona.

Maradona is head and shoulders above anyone else by any measure.

Pele second because being good at football was more difficult in those days, defenders used to get away with leg breaking tackles and wet balls were like canon balls. He won a World Cup 3 times and scored in the final aged 17 on a foreign continent.

Messi is the best of this generation for me. That's as far as he can go.

4.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 14:35:16
Messi, Messi left foot and Messi right foot for me.

5.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 14:35:17
George Best! He was Messi nearly 50 years ago only on worse pitches, heavy boots and no fly away ball. Love him.

6.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 14:55:26
Maradona for me. Just watch some of the footage of his runs and why he doesn't score as many goals as messi - because he was blatantly taken out time after time. Playing 20+ years ago was a totally different level of protection To what they get now. That aside he made average teams into champions.

7.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 15:24:12
Diego was the best. But to suggest Messi wouldn't come to liverpool and be prolific is absured. He'd instantly make us league favourites and smash 40+ goals.
Look what Suarez did. Times that by 3.

8.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 13:52:11
Difficult one, but for me Pele is my number one choice although Brazil produced so many wonderful players around that era. Jairzinho a close second.

Gerd Muller also deserves a mention. 68 goals in 62 international games. 14 world cup goals was a record that stood for 32 years (thank you wikipedia)

Bobby Moore simply because he could stop Pele.

9.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 17:36:42
Ron is spot on with his appraisal of Diego and Pele. Messi? he is the only worlsd`s best player i`ve ever seen play a WC final without breaking a sweat nor wasn`t even arsed about the game as walked all over the pitch while players like Klose, Scweini played like their lives depended on it. Pele, Maradona, Zidane, O phenomeno and the rest who played in WC finals never did that. Great player, disgusting attitude.

10.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 18:29:25
Pele over Maradona for me. The only man to have an almost 1:1 ratio over his entire career.

Pele revolutionised football. Eusebio was also a very very good player during that era too.

11.) 22 Oct 2015
22 Oct 2015 22:40:11
Maradona was brilliant for a couple of years and then faded as he started to lose his struggle with weight. Messi has dominated for a much longer period of time.
From all accounts, Duncan Edwards could've been mentioned in the same breath as these guys if his life hadn't been cut short.

Players who saw him (and I know hindsight can romanticise players) rate him as good as Pele.
But can't believe Zidane isn't being mentioned here. For me, he was a player who made his team look better - controlled games brilliantly. Dominated 2 world cups.