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Deserves a thread of his own.

Genius.

i know his brother Mr.

No doubt for Barca but what about at international level? Until he lights up a world cup he can not be on the same pedestal as el Diego.

Not sure I agree.  George Best was meant to be pretty decent, but never lit up any World Cup.  I know what you're saying, but unless he has a half-decent Argentinian side to play in he's not going to shine in the World Cup.  Stick him in the England team  and he'd still struggle to get beyond the quarter-finals.

He's only 24 as well.  You could argue that the CL and the Spanish league are at the same (if not higher) level than any World Cup matches.

International football is cack, he does it year in year out in the CL thats good enough for me.

Never understood judging players by their international careers.  Therefore I can comfortable put Messi on a pedestral.   


Messi>>Everyone else, ever.

how can you say that when you never seen me in my prime

For me Messi plays well in a team that is either set up to his strengths or is capable of passing through and around any team in the world. Messi is just the icing, confidence is born from the knowledge that the rest of the team are on a different level and Messi can weave his skills.

Maradona played in an equally strengthed Argentina team but was able to pull them up and along single handedly (quite literally at times). This to me sets him apart, an inspiration to those around. I do not get this with Messi who can often go missing on the international stage.

All that said, if I could only watch one game of football a week I would choose Barcelona, I have watched them for an age in la liga and consistently perform to the highest levels. Ok, this year they have not reached those same levels consistently but IMO they are the greatest team to have played the game in my lifetime. Take Messi out and I still think they would justify my last sentence!

You're right Messi probably hasn't reached his prime yet.  Scary thought.

LOL - reading this as he knocks in his fifth.

He gets the ball and you expect him to score.  Different gravy.

if i didnt put the queen infront of playing games i would of been the best player ever and them some

but i thought it was better doing a shift 7 days a week for £23 a day

only down side of this scotland wasnt able to win the world cup but its a burden i will have to live with till i die

AndrewT you obviously understand my post? There is no player who excites when he's pulling strings as he no doubt has been tonight. I have not watched the game as I am watching the Apoel v Lyon tie intstead. If you have watched Barca play for the past few seasons then it's pretty obvious he's magic but the fact is he's not up to Maradona's pedigree on the international stage.

i think the point of the post is that lionel messi worlds greatest player is on 1tv4 at 22:00 tonight

i've watched barca live twice in the nou camp and they were the most boring matches i've ever watched.

The greatest footballer that has and will ever live!!

When I grow up.............

I love older people talking about the greats of their era. I reckon football has changed so much (fitness levels, pace etc) that all older players must be marked down because of this.
Pele = Rob Earnshaw
Maradona = Andy Reid
Bobby Moore = Ian Evatt

Also adore this As if he's played for the likes of Bolton whose style didn't suit him nor had the quality of possession that he has and was a failure.

Just seen he scored 5 goals tonight what a player!

Maradona was amazing in his time, galvanised his teams at both international and club level.

However, I'm pretty sure that Messi is the best player I've ever seen, his goals record is just astonishing too.

Quite amazing football era to have someone of the quality of Ronaldo around at the same time as Messi

amazing tonight, a proper special player

what a night for young tello too. he's going to score hatfuls with those runs he makes and fabregas threading balls through to him

I am not as old as Glen, however I agree - he is the best player I have seen in my lifetime - that includes Diego

Messi is the best in this decade for sure. To call somebody the best ever is too strong. Although not all the greats ever won World Cup etc, but majority of them had significant impact to their national team. No matter how great Messi looks in Barca, at national team level he's so far failed and failed miserably. What is even worst we are talking about Argentina - maybe not the best team in the world but one of the best.

He's only 24 too! Wow such a special talent

24 WTF?

stolen from charltonlife forum, this is great

Linekar said he's the best player ever. Even better than Maradona who he shared a pitch with.

For me he does things which defy explanation, he tries and accomplishes things that great players in yester year would never be close to being able to do.

I would love to see him play live.

He makes it look so effortless

TBF his manager at the last big international tourney was Maradona, who had completely lost his mind.  The team was full of world class players and looked awkward and disjointed as soon as they played someone decent

"186 goals in his last 201 games"

This is just absurd.

Think he's less than 15 goals from barca's all time record scorer

I am a huge Diego fan but I think Messi is the best ever.
The game has moved on a huge amount since Maradonnas time and it's almost like a different game.
I liken it somewhat to the difference between pre professional rugby union and what we have today. When Jonah Lomu arrived on the international scene, he revolutionised the game. A back that was as big as a forward and opposition teams couldn't deal with him. Now all players are extremely athletic and powerful.
The same thing has happened in football (albeit to a lesser degree). Players now appear to be athletes first and footballers second. And yet Messi is a mere slip of a man. He's a physical poet in a world of souped up steroid munching super athletes.
Ronaldo is an extremely talented and skillful footballer but his physique is an important part of his game. If he had the physique of Messi, he wouldn't be half the player he is. I feel sure we'll see more 'Ronaldos' come off footballs conveyor belt but I think it may be a long, long time before we ever see anything like Messi again.

Think it's a bit of a myth that Argentina and Napoli were one man teams in Maradona's prime.  Argentina actually had a great side and Napoli spent millions on their team to win the scudetto.  Valdano and Burrechhaga don't even get a mention when people talk about Argentina's side in Mexico.  These narratives about teams and players just emerge and get repeated until it's never questioned.    You had less players from South America playing in Europe in the 80s too so some of the Argie barge players were brilliant but comparatively unknown here.

It's hard to compare eras because back in the 80s we didn't get to watch much European football.  I hardly ever saw Maradona playing for Napoli or Barcelona.  I only saw him playing for Argentina at world cup time.  You can watch Messi every week.  It's hard to compare eras anyway.  I think the most you can say with any degree of certainty is they were both the best players of their respective generations by a country mile.  I'd choose Messi as best ever however if I had to.  Just seems so effortless for him and not quite so fuelled by cocaine too.

So hard to compare Messi, Pele and Diego but you have to acknowledge talent and all 3 are the greatest of their generations and no one else comes close. Would we even be talking about them as great players if it was not for the fact that they score goals. It says something about English football when our greatest player ever was the legend Bobby Moore.

Messi dominating Diego in this thread, to play devils advocate I would say 95% of Argentinians would view Diego as a better player.

But they call Messi the little Spaniard, with a bit of a chip on the shoulder that he left at such a young age.  Comparing homegrown hero with Barca raised talent IMHO.

This would be overlooked if his performances for the national team matched that of his club performances. Messi has only 'turned up' on a handful of games at international level and as such the Argentinian public use the Europe factor against him. Peter Crouch has a better scoring record internationally!

He will have that beat this time next week LOL

Peter Crouch has a better drug test pass rate than Maradona!

Shaun Ryder has a better drug test pass rate than Maradona!

Peter Crouch has got quite a good scoring record for England hasn't he?

Messi is the best player of anyone's generation. Fullstop.

No doubt!

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nplemK3Y4ns

ainec

Pele. End thread!

When i was young i read a quote saying "anything Pele can do with a football, Maradonna could do with an orange" so to that end: anything Pele can do with a football, Messi could do with a grape.

Best could do it with a pea

Milligan when your old, read the endless list of greatest footballers of all time like you will see in any search today. I would say Pele will still top these lists in 50 years time and Messi may be in the region of the 3rd - 7 th positions. Football is not just what you can do with a football although being the expert you are you already know this!

I'd be very suprised if Messi wasn't at least compared to Pele/Maradona in 50 years time.

No mention of Andy Carroll in this thread yet either. 

;carlocitrone;

Care to elaborate, are you saying that their style of play is boring to watch? Or did you just run bad and see bad games.

Thing with Maradonna is that he alone lifted unfashionable Napoli from abject obscurity to the height of their glory and the people of Naples proclaimed him God. Then he went and lifted the whole of Argentina by scooping the 86 world cup as a single maverick and the millions of people in that country proclaim him God. Messi plays for Barcelona and as yet no impact on the international stage. Being the best footballer isn't just about technical ability...imo impact, influence, winning hearts of people and historical legacy need to be factored. Messi is too young to compare to Diego right now imo.

The majority of people in Argentina will always love Maradona more than Messi. Some of them don't even like Messi due to him leaving to go to Europe at a young age so Messi will never be able to compete there.

When i am your age old I will read these lists and I genuinely think Messi will be at the top! The lists you see now will have been voted for by people of the older generation, this is the only reason Pele would be at the top. The game is so much more advanced these days, with so many more technically superior players. Although Messi is second to none with a ball at his feet, his runs, eye for a pass, eye for goal and ability to turn games etc is incomparable.

This.  Better players/opposition week in week out, and he still owns.

Also why is Best in this discussion?  I don't think I've ever meet someone who's said Best, who isn't a Utd fan and 50+.  Just seems to be in the same vein as how Giggs will be be remembered, United and PL legend but never in the same category Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane, Pele, Maradona etc.

They were playing average teams who never touched the ball for about 90% of the game. Watching 5 yd pass after 5 yd pass for 90 mins gets very boring. Of course there is some magic and its great when it happens and you appreciate it for the brilliance it is. But i'd genuinely prefer to watch a passion filled end to end championship game.

El Classicos are not even watchable anymore, i've had to turn the last 2 off after 20 mins, just pathetic individuals everyone of them.

The greatest ever debate is pointless, i thought Maradona was the best ever, when Zidane was in his pomp i thought he was the best ever (as did others on here who are probably now going with Messi). Watch a messi highlights reel and a Maradona one on youtube back to back and both will make you go wow, but you won't be able to clearly say Messi is better because he did that trick or this trick etc. They all just wonderous players who i love or have loved watching.

Being the best footballer has nothing to do with wining people's hearts.  It's about who er.. is the best at footballer.  Who has the best touch, the best control, pass, vision, strength, goal scoring record etc.

Who the most inspirational footballer might be is a different matter and involves winning hearts and legacy etc.. but this is just about who plays better.

One things for sure. Messi wont be busto enough to be doing Viagra commercials in 40years time

Saw Messi live, was super underwhelmed.

We can't say the same about the crab though

Id snap do it if i was still alive and viagra sorted me out

FYP

Messi wouldn't let pele lace his boot lol

Yes, I'm over 50, and yes I'm a Manchester United fan, but to dismiss Best in this debate is a joke.
Had he been born 30 years later and been part of Fergie's kids with Scholes, Beckham, Butt and Nevilles G & P this debate would be over.
He had poise, balance, skill, vision in abundance and demonstrated all those attributes on pitches that were often more mud than grass.
Messi is, undoubtedly, a class act but his career is still short. Pele played 800 games for Santos, Plus 92 for Brazil. He played in two world cup winning teams as well.

TBF, Pele talks about himself in the 3rd person and the most famous clips of him are of him missing goals.

Messi just keeps putting them away and they're usually in the net before the players around him even know he's about to make an attempt - just a lol quick footie brain.

Another for Messi, this time one I could have scored :D

50 for the season now.

;tightend;

Another 2 goals tonight, sick human!

Barcelona all time leading goal scorer as of tonight

yeah another hat trick the boy is the best ever imho

Does he ever not score in a game?

He's going to double that record if he stays at Barca for the remainder of his career.

54 goals in 45 games this season

Take that as a NO then, pretty sick human

I reckon that he won't be far of likely scoring 2 goals than none.  :)

does he take pens?

Yes.

Has he ever missed a pen? I bet no!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=penalty+miss+messi

Remember hearing the other day someone hadn't missed a pen ever out of close to 30 pens, think it was a German player, standard, anyone no ?

Would like he say this shows he's human but it doesn't count, he slipped! lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-95a9qWcIsk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9DmfmWVOAA

Close this thread messi is awful, he missed a pen and we all calling him the best in the world LOL

Justin Fashanu had a decent record, iirc.

Dirk Kuyt did too until this season :(

Ballack was decent from the spot, missed 1 or 2 though I think.

balotelli says he has never missed

He says a lot though ;)

That is a God-awful penalty.  Still the GOAT.


Love that game/night, even though we lost, so many emotions.   

He thinks he's super mario when really he's just shit!

Le Tissier was deece

He only scored sickkkkkkk goals

Le Tiss missed one... Who was the keeper?

No google for kudos!

mark crosley?

pretty sure he was a redic good pensaver