Maradona or Messi?

how many times do you see messi lose the ball though never really

 

Usually the greatest two footballers are considered Pele & Maradona. Just to spark some more debate..

..How comes nobody has mentioned him?

 

Pele should never be considered in my eyes - he only did it in Brazillian leagues which are (were) of a very poor standard (though fair play on the amount of goals) and so he only shone as a world class player playing for Brazil surrounded by absolutely quality players a tad like Messi and Barca

 

I didn't mention him because the OP specified the other two. But I know what you mean. For me though there has never been a question that Maradona was better than Pele. yoshiyella has already summed up the reasons why for me so I won't bother repeating them.

What do you think NWPJ? Pele, Maradona or Messi?

 

Totally agree with this

 

Agreed. Personally I think Pele and Messi are on a par, and Maradona is so far beyond them that they can barely see him.

 

Exactly

 

It will always be Maradona for me until Messi has a great world cup.

 

I agree, Maradona single-handedly gave Napoli the league, while Pele failed to impress in America, and how Messi fails to impress during Argentina matches.

 

I actually agree that Maradona is better than Pele. A couple of my friends consider Pele the greatest ever because of his goalscoring record - so I thought I'd ask for others views on it!

Like I said in an earlier post, Messi is the best player I have ever actually watched play properly, and he certainly is capable of exceeding Maradona in my opinion. All the worlds greatest win the world cup though, with a manager with better tactical nouse than Maradona I think Messi could manage that.

 

This was going to be my next point

 

Gutierrez and Colo scoring the winners in the final of course

 

Going to have to disagree on that one - example (not that I am saying he is one of the worlds greatest ever) is Giggs and Wales, Giggs was a world class player but would never have won the world cup, I suppose a better example is George Best

 

On the subject of Pele, LOVE this!

 

having never got to watch Pele or Maradona i can't really comment but i wish that i had. I love watching Messi just because he is so good at what he does that he makes it look easy but as some of you are saying that Maradona was even better i can only imagine what it was like to watch him

 

It was a touch of class. If only he had managed to score to cap the move off perfectly!!!

 

George Best is a better example - but can probably never be considered along the likes of Ronaldo, Zidane, Pele, Maradona in my view.

 

Ok, how about Di Stefano or someone like George Weah?

 

I understand what you are saying but I would counter that there are actually a fair number of players who have won the world cup, so that in itself is not justification to decide the greatest player ever. If Messi manages to empower Argentina to win the WC with an average team, as Maradona did, and he also leaves Barca to play for an average club team and enables them almost single handedly to win trophy after trophy then I will agree that he is getting close to matching Maradona or may even pass him.

That is what gives Maradona the edge for me ... he could run rings around the opposition even if the rest of his team weren't up to it, or even weren't up for it. Messi is brilliant for Barca who are the best club team in the world but is nowhere near as good playing for a less convincing national team.

 

Hmm. Di Stefano is a good shout. Not so sure about Weah though.

But in all likelyhood, Messi will never leave Barcelona. I dont think that should be held against him . I think he could win the world cup for Argentina though, as long as they get a decent manager to get the team to play to his strengths. He should glimpses of his magic at the 2010 world cup, and granted whilst it wasnt enough - he will be 'prime age' for the next world cup, and could be frightening. He still has time on his side.