No, not by a million miles. He's a great club player, but that's about it. He's not done a thing at international level since 2010. And that makes an enormous difference - at club level, I'd accept Cantona as the equat of Gascoigne any time, but at international level, the very thought was a joke. Cantona never gave a Gazza-standard display at World Cup level in his life. Give me a World Cup performance Like Maradona in 1986 or Garincha in 1962, then I'll even consider Messi.
No. Both Ronaldo's were better, Zidane too, just talking players in my lifetime here. You coming to the Bournemouth game?
There's no such thing as the best player ever for me, it's all down to personal preference. I'll never accept Pele as the greatest, simply due to the fact that he played his club football at such a poor standard. All personal preference, Messi being the GOAT could be very plausible, international should have nothing to do with it, some truly world class players have come from countries where the talent hasn't been of the required standard to succeed in major tourneys. George Best for example. Argentina maybe should have won the WC but they've come up against possibly the best international side of all time in Spain and another ridiculously talented side in Germany, sometimes you need luck on your side no matter how good you are. Zidane and Scholes, I can't split them personally because of where my allegiance lies, they're my favourite ever.
I can't really say that he is the best player of ever because I just haven't been around long enough to see some of the best players of all time and highlight reels really don't really give a true idea of what a player was like. What I can say is that he is almost certainly the best player that's been around in my lifetime simply because he can do things with a football that no other player can do to the same level and keep on doing those things over and over. His International career might not be the best but a lot of outstanding footballers don't have a very good international record because the team as a whole isn't good enough (George Best, Ibrahimovic and Scholesy to name a few) and no matter how sensational a player is an average side with one superstar in will get be beaten by a full 11 of good players.
That's a valid point in some cases (like Best). But surely you can't claim it in Argentina's case! You made a damn good post there though. We'll never know the best of all time, even with the problems of film highlights, as you say. We don't even have that for some of the all-time legends of the game - there are no films of Charles Buchan or Jimmy Meredith and you'd be lucky to find any of Alex James either. Well said mate.
Leonel Messi would have to play for Barca (and they'd have to win the league every year) until he was 35 to overtake Ryan Giggs' haul of league winners medals.
I think it's disgraceful for the world that he didn't. It's bad for Africa and everyone else FWIW I think Ronaldo is a better footballer. Proven in multiple top leagues. Messi is a fantastic footballer but I'd like to see him come to the Premier League and/or Bundesliga among others and have a go before comparing him to Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a sulky twat but he's a sulky twat I've seen up close and he was awesome to watch. I'll never get to see Messi play a live game I doubt as he won;t move from his comfort zone
Me and my brother are off to watch Messi and Barcelona in March. I'm really looking forward to it. Might try and take in a Real Madrid game next season too...
A lot of world class forwards competing to play alongside Messi but not a lot else to the team in my opinion.
