To me the greatest player ever

Messi

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Listen mandem I don’t wanna hear you comparing anyone to this man anymore I’m tired😴 u man claim to know ball so pls enough of the comparisons there is no one we have ever seen that can talk to this man.. maybe Ronaldinho🤩 other than that leave it out salamualakam😭🤲🏼 <a href="https://t.co/qY2RcRqDeL">https://t.co/qY2RcRqDeL</a></p>&mdash; hakeem (@hakeemarish) <a href="https://twitter.com/hakeemarish/status/1383546465172148225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Johann Cruyff for me

world Pele

UK gazza

World Maradona

Uk George Best.

Messi an all time great and best of his era in my opinion

Pele

Messi is the greatest for me, incredible player and an incredible consistency

Pele was undoubtedly a brilliant player but his goalscoring record is suspect, half of the goals he counts came in friendlies and a whole host of them came against what were effectively pub teams in Brazil's regional championships.

messi for me too, makes it look so easy.

https://youtu.be/RWgJ4KKn1vM

that's one of my favourite goals of his, the two touches, at full sprint to keep him out of the clutches of a very good defender are just perfect

I’ve always thought that ‘the greatest of all time’ is heavily weighted towards attacking players, defenders, even ‘keepers, are rarely mentioned. Players such as Beckenbauer, the two Maldinis, Baresi, Cafu, Nilton Santos, Thuram, Schnellinger, Breitner, Lahm, Yashin, Banks etc are rarely thrown into the mix.

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Originally Posted by City123

Messi is the greatest for me, incredible player and an incredible consistency

Pele was undoubtedly a brilliant player but his goalscoring record is suspect, half of the goals he counts came in friendlies and a whole host of them came against what were effectively pub teams in Brazil's regional championships.

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I wouldn't nominate Pele myself, so this is not me being defensive about him, but is the Brazilian pub defence thing that gets said actually true?

The other greats, garrincha, jairzinho, whoever you want to look at, didn't have anything like his goal scoring record. If it was pub defences, surely they'd be up there with him.

He's still Brazil's record scorer, only a few have scored more world cup goals than him; I think his record has been adjusted already and can be accepted.

Messi is the greatest all round talent in my view. Goals, dribbling, passing, he can do all of these to a greater level than just about anyone.

John Charles.

Only man to pick picked in 2 positions for the same best team in the world because he was best at both of them.

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Originally Posted by xsnaggle

John Charles.

Only man to pick picked in 2 positions for the same best team in the world because he was best at both of them.

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Now that is a very good call.

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Originally Posted by Cleve van Leef

Now that is a very good call.

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It is, as Welshmen we should hang our heads in shame for forgetting The Gentle Giant.

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Originally Posted by lardy

I wouldn't nominate Pele myself, so this is not me being defensive about him, but is the Brazilian pub defence thing that gets said actually true?

The other greats, garrincha, jairzinho, whoever you want to look at, didn't have anything like his goal scoring record. If it was pub defences, surely they'd be up there with him.

He's still Brazil's record scorer, only a few have scored more world cup goals than him; I think his record has been adjusted already and can be accepted.

Messi is the greatest all round talent in my view. Goals, dribbling, passing, he can do all of these to a greater level than just about anyone.

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Yeah the way Brazil's league are structured is strange in that they played in a regional championship as well as the national championship, so for instance the Sao Paulo regional league has top flight teams like Santos but also sides from the 2nd, 3rd and sometimes even 4th tiers. Imagine the standard of those sides in the 60s.

His international record is obviously very good and shows he was a brilliant player like I said, but he often gets shoved into these discussions based on the 1,000 goals thing which is suspect

Chris Pike

Admin, you can now lock the thread

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Originally Posted by Rjk

messi for me too, makes it look so easy.

https://youtu.be/RWgJ4KKn1vM

that's one of my favourite goals of his, the two touches, at full sprint to keep him out of the clutches of a very good defender are just perfect

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I love that goal, he made it look so easy but anyone who's played a game of football knows how hard what he did there is

It’s hard to compare different eras, but it seems to me that, generally speaking, Messi has had more fine players as team mates in the Argentina sides he played in than Maradona did in, for example, 1986. For most of my life, the biggest stage a footballer could perform on was the international one, in particular the World Cup. I accept that might not be the case any more, but Messi’s pretty ordinary World Cup record is why I favour Maradona over him.

A very difficult one to call, especially comparing players from different eras.

Based purely on skill, it's a toss-up between Messi and Maradona, with Messi possibly shading it.

On the next level I would put Pele and Cruyff.

On the third tier I would put Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Difficult to know where to place John Charles. He could not be compared with the above for his skill level but he had a wonderful football brain, was equally world class as a centre forward and centre half and was worshipped by Juventus fans.

Best player for the City.....Nathan Wigg ?

Pele. No one will match his three World Cup winners medals.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

It’s hard to compare different eras, but it seems to me that, generally speaking, Messi has had more fine players as team mates in the Argentina sides he played in than Maradona did in, for example, 1986. For most of my life, the biggest stage a footballer could perform on was the international one, in particular the World Cup. I accept that might not be the case any more, but Messi’s pretty ordinary World Cup record is why I favour Maradona over him.

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I don't like this argument, because if higuain had scored this then Messi would have likely won a world cup, and it doesn't seem right to boil down his amazing career to someone else's mistake.

https://youtu.be/As_hf0psXMw

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Originally Posted by Hilts

World Maradona

Uk George Best.

Messi an all time great and best of his era in my opinion

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Maradona was a phenomenal talent, imagine how good he could have been without all the booze and coke. He won the World Cup which of course Messi hasn’t yet, but I dint think maradona won a huge amount with his clubs bar at Napoli? I could be wrong but Messi has won an unreal amount and scored a ridiculous amount of goals

An unreal player and the best technically for me. Could argue Ronaldo as an all rounder but I'd prefer to watch Messi.

Imagine waking up knowing you are that good at something you love, especially something like football where (with fans in particular) you can bring such joy to thousands and receive such adulation. Dream like.

Bobby Moore. Even Pele couldn’t get the better of him.

Diego Armando Maradona. .............

Once asked if he had any regrets in his football career ....
His answer.... " only one, I often think how good I could have been if I didn't take drugs"

Pele

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Originally Posted by lardy

I don't like this argument, because if higuain had scored this then Messi would have likely won a world cup, and it doesn't seem right to boil down his amazing career to someone else's mistake.

https://youtu.be/As_hf0psXMw

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/lastwor...-maradona/amp/

maradonna's team mates are also given far too little credit for the world cup win

Always mystifies me when lack of winning international tournaments is levelled at a player as a slight on their individual talent.

If Messi was Welsh but still doing what he does for as long as he has would that make him any less of a player? Not for me.

Are we honestly saying Didier Deschamps, for arguments sake, is arguably a better player than Messi because he was part of a squad that won the World Cup?

Winning a World Cup is a team effort in every sense. Players like Messi are sometimes the difference that wins it but you need the rest to do their bit. I don't think Argentina have been collectively the best team at a tournament while he has played despite the greatness of Messi.

The same applies with Maradona too. Many say he won the World Cup on his own. He may have been the difference but if their defence conceded a goal or two more at critical times he wins nothing.

For me it has to be Pele. It may be that I am biased as he was at his peak when I first became fully immersed in world football but I still think he was the best ever.

UK , take you pick as plenty of world class talent available. However , those who saw him play say the most complete player was Duncan Edwards although his premature death meant that he never had the international exposure. However, as Busby, Charlton,Law and even John Charles rated him as the best that will do it for me.

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Originally Posted by xsnaggle

John Charles.

Only man to PICK PICKED in 2 positions for the same best team in the world because he was best at both of them.

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Did he do a pocket or two ?

It's gotta be Pele !

He played in the days when defenders hacked players down violently

Here, have a look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OtnR06Z3EY

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Originally Posted by BLUETIT

Did he do a pocket or two ?

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Charity's fine, subscibe to mine, get out and............................