Messi 644 goals

Messi v Ronaldo is Jacques Mayol v Enzo Molinari.* Jaque is naturally better than Enzo but Enzo is more determined.

*reference:' the big blue.'

Originally Posted by Baron

He’s unquestionably the best player that’s ever played the game IMO, extraordinary in every sense. It’s about how he plays the game, not just the numbers. His vision & first touch are unrivalled. It’s been a privilege to watch him & he could easily play for many more years at the top.

Di Stefano, Lev Yashin, George Best and Pelé are up there. How do you judge the best player ever?

Originally Posted by Neo

I think that's harsh, as whilst domestically La Liga has been nowhere near as competitive as the Serie A that Maradona played in, Messi has replicated the success in the Champion's League, which is the key competition that modern players are measured in, and you can't say it's 'easy mode' or that he 'generally failed', as he's been utterly incredible in European football for over a decade now.

The World Cup, however, is a failure for him. Regardless of what people say about 2014, and Higuain's miss, it's an inarguable fact that Messi has done nothing whatsoever to even come close to what Maradona achieved in '86, and that will forever set them apart IMO.

Messi was the best player in the best club team to ever play the game. There's no shame in that but Maradona won a world cup and serie a with worse teams because he was so good.

Every generation of sportsmen, even £#%&!ing chess wallahs, is standing on the shoulders of giants. Of course this genetically enhanced soccer skillz little twot is better than Pele.

But what you can’t enhance, nor learn from past greats, is character.

Messi is no shithouse, but he’s certainly no leader of men. Something about him has failed to combust for the Argie side.

Ronaldo at least won the Euros, so he’s in the conversation.

If George Best had the luxury of playing international football for a decent side. And wasn’t a raging alcoholic.

The advantage that these attackers have now almost renders comparisons with previous scoring feats pointless.

How many would the likes of Pele, Eusebio, Greaves etc have scored in an era which in comparison is a non contact sport played on a bowling green with a ball that moves all over the place.

I'm not even convinced the defending has improved since, as it seems to get worse year on year atm

Pele would bag 85 a season in La Liga.