Pele, Maradona Cruft, Best etc would of loved playing nowadays Shiny, they were getting booted left right and centre plus the pitches now would of suited their games. Trust me Messi is as good as you think but not the best compared to them.
Shiny, in a crap league that produced the greatest national team in football, and some of the greatest players to grace any football pitch, so mate your a million miles of the plot there, and to say these players wouldn't be the same today, you are joking, in my opinion they would be exactly the same, if not better. And remember they played in an era when you could tackle, and i mean crunching tackles, today would be a doddle.
Brazilian football used to be very good domestically, players like Garrincha etc playing in the league.. Also, Pele was never allowed to leave and join another club for ages as he was declared a national treasure I believe? Never saw any play but when you look at the tackles Pele etc endured on the footage it looks much harder. Also, how can you possibly say they would have been average?! Possibly not as effective but seriously, Pele won 3 world cups! Messi gets free kicks when players breath on him, same as Ronaldo does because of the pressure put on referees by their stadiums.
George Best for me. He is the epitome of my childhood, I have great memories of watching Match of the day in black and white on a Saturday night and watching him show skill, agility and strength through some of the most awful pitches you could possibly imagine! He was my hero. When you try to compare Best to the era of Messi etc, try to consider it the other way round! Messi wouldn't have stood a chance during that era He would have got kicked back to Argentina.. Each to their own, thats the way it should be...
People often disagree with me, but I really do think it's Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is also breaking records everywhere he goes. He's outscored Fat Ronaldo during his time at Real Madrid (136 goals in 125 appearances) and will probably break their all-time scoring record, was prolific at every club he has been at and is by far the best player for his national team. Messi is also a fantastic player, but he's a one club player and has never really been able to turn it on for Argentina. He's underrated in this country, despite being the best player to ever play under Fergie. He's fairly underrated in Spain because of Messi's shadow and the cliquey nature of the Real Madrid team. If the rumours are true and he does return to Man Utd in the summer then he'll dominate the scoring charts for years.
Personally agree that Ronaldo is better than Messi imo. Unfortunately have never seen a lot of the other names mentioned play, Zidane was special but never seen the likes of Pele, Maradonna or Eusebio.
Gianfranco Zola, the bloke oozes raw skill and talent. Unlike all the oldies like Pele, Maradonna, Best, Charlton, he did his graft against top athletes in the best league in the world for years! Most of the other players getting mentioned honed their skills against blokes who spent there spare time on the lash and not complete athletes like todays footballers.
Zola, or Mustafa Amini.... Simple because: A.) His name is Mustafa B.) He is ginger C.) He has an afro These three things on their own don't make him special, but combined, it makes him more mesmorising than any player to have played the game before!
Todays players are arguably better athletes, but then if "old time" players like Pele played today, they too would be better athletes taking advantage of better diet etc
Question you have to ask is, would Messi still be scoring the goals he is if we wasnt playing for Barca in a league that rarely has a clean sheet. Messi gets the credit but for me its players like xavi and inesta who are the players i love to watch which is why Spain are also so good where Argentina with their endless stars never win anything. Isnt it also funny how all the players who are always link to being the best of all time are always attackers are 'the best' is judged on goal scoring so players like Maldini are over looked because they are defenders. I always like Roberto Baggio who was a class player who did it at the small clubs and the big clubs and Raúl who was a legend at Madrid.
