South East Citizen wrote:
As far as I'm aware Messi hasn't been running round claiming he's better than Pele and Maradonna, I don't know why he's getting so much grief. It's down to opinion at the end of the day. People that say you have to do it in a World Cup - well Messi has to an extend, he single-handedly dragged Argentina to the knock out phase and then had a couple of quite games. So you're saying to be the best player you have to be judged on 2 games. Maradonna did it (although he cheated to get through to the second game) in a team that was no worse than this Argentina team IMO. Certainly the opposition and defensive tactics weren't the same as Messi had to contend with. Pele did it in an amazing Brazil team, and never played club football outside of a pretty amateurish Brazilian league. Personally I rate Messi over either of them, but if he's only behind those two that still makes him one of the all time greats.
If the only evidence of judging a player on how great he will ever be is of winning world cups then there would be only 2 players who were that much influential then anyone else so we can forget about the Cruyffs, DiStefanos and Puskas because they never won a world cup but then how much does club level count and other tournaments? I think the Champions league is as equivalent as a world cup but Messi will always be judged, no matter what, for not winning a world cup. We can also ask how many Champions did Pele or Maradona win or even Ballon D'Or. Times have changed where being a Maradona/Pele type is difficult though there are 2 who could challenge. Messi's final shot happens in Russia. Meanwhile great match Zabs and Demichellis as for Kun....well he never got going