[Archived] Champions League

[philipl]

Pele is the yardstick.

Maradona had too many problems and for me could have been even better than he was. In comparison Pele had a long career and to have scored over 1,000 top flight goals overshadows everyone else.

Interesting to note that we could easily have no English clubs left in Europe by Thursday night- I rate all three remaining clubs slight underdogs in each of the remaining ties.

jim is correct in rating Messi behind all the players he names but Messi is potentially good enough to take a poorly coached and otherwise underwhelming Argentine outfit a very long way in South Africa this summer. Interesting to see how Ronaldo has dropped off the world's greatest radar and the test of Messi is whether he can avoid the sort of lull Ronaldo is going through or if he can keep on developing. If the latter, he can potentially make it to the pantheon.

[jim mk2]

He is the best player in the world NOW, by a country mile. It's hard to compare him to players who played in different eras - the game has changed a lot in terms of the strength, speed and athleticism of players probably even in the last 10 years. Any of those players you mentioned might not have been able to cope with today's game, but in terms of their peers and the time in which they played, they were among the very best of their generation. Messi is THE outstanding player of his.

Still say Maradona is the best ever though.

Part of the fun of watching football is comparing past v present : Shearer v Pickering, Douglas v Duff etc, but I contend the best players of the past would have been outstanding in modern football too with the possible exception of Ferenc Puskas who was built like a rugby prop forward but had beautiful skills - cue dragback sending Billy Wright the wrong way at Wembley in 1953. Pele will always be the best for me, followed by our very own Georgie Best, a true footballing genius.

[Tom]

For me he is the greatest since zidane and he is one of the true greats. Players like messi and zizou are just a joy to watch

[Guest Kamy100]

Special performance by Messi tonight and he is the best player in the world at the moment.

For me he is still behind the like of Maradona and Pele because they performed at an unbelievable level year after year and crucially played major parts in the their country winning the world cup. At 22 Messi has the potential to be the best ever but he has to do a lot more before he even makes the top three.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

He's scored 28 goals this calendar year. Think about that. He has single handedly won a Champions League 1/4 final. He had 6 shots and scored 4. He's a magician.

The fact that people are now comparing Messi not to Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Torres, Rooney but to Pele and Maradona shows how truely great he is. He has scored goals only Maradona or Pele could have scored and is now scoring them on a regular basis. Ive never seen a player be so devastating in a single game as Messi has shown in the past 2 months or so, never.

[Inta Beaver]

Im gutted i had Bendtner to score first and Barca to win 3-1, £2 would of paid £270!! Eboue is the worst defender i have ever seen, does the lad know how to play offside? Fool!!

Great display from Messi!!!!

[Guest Kamy100]

Ive never seen a player be so devastating in a single game as Messi has shown in the past 2 months or so, never.

That is the crucial thing when comparing him to Diego and Pele, they were like this for years and not months. At 22 Messi can of course go on to equal them, he definitely has the potential.

[Eddie]

He has the potential to make that list of greatest ever, but he hasn't hit it yet. We have to remember that the "best ever" always seems to be now in this age. Wasn't long ago that people spoke about Ronaldinho like that, or Zidane, Ronaldo...

The test is how his entire career plays out. He needs to dominate for years to come, if not he'll simply be in the class of great players you find every generation (which is certainly no bad thing). Rooney could still do it for me, so could Ronaldo, so could Messi. Personally, I don't think any of them will, but you never know. It's a great time to be a football fan, hopefully we'll see someone like that at Rovers at some point.

[Hughesy]

Messi is good - but our Keeeeeeeeeef is better!

[Eddie]

and for those of you talking about "never seen a player be so devastating"...go back and watch Zidane or Ronaldinho when they were in their prime. The could take games over and made world class players look foolish, Messi isn't totally unique in his ability.

[JAL]

Messi makes scoring goals look so, so, so easy.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

and for those of you talking about "never seen a player be so devastating"...go back and watch Zidane or Ronaldinho when they were in their prime. The could take games over and made world class players look foolish, Messi isn't totally unique in his ability.

Ive seen plenty of Ronaldinho and Zidane. I cant comment on Maradona or Pele, but Zizou and Ronaldinho I can. Both were fabulous but Messi has something different. Zidane was a different kind of footballer all together for a start. Xavi/Iniesta are on their way towards him, not Messi.

Messi doesnt use fancy tricks or wacky skills to pass players like Ronaldinho. He uses sheer agility and craft. I saw Ronaldinho tear Madrid apart 4/5 years ago in the Bernabeau and that was something else, but Messi has been doing that since the turn of the year. He's destroyed teams, not occasionally, but weekly. Turning in performances which Ronaldinho was potentially capable of once in a while, in game after game, week after week. Plus he's scored an absolute shed load.

Messi works far far harder then Ronaldinho, has scored far more then Ronaldinho and has a style which is only comparible to players of by gone generation. He's only 22 as well. sickening.

[Blue n White Rover]

Messi or Ronaldo and why?

[Tom]

Messi or Ronaldo and why?

messi - because he is better

[DeadlyDirk]

If I had to pick out of the two then I'd probably go for Messi on current form but I don't think there is much difference between him and Ronaldo. Messi is a lot better on the ball and a better finisher from anywhere in or around the box but you can't forget Ronaldo's ability in the air not to mention his shooting from distance which in my opinion is better than Messi's. Ronaldo also has the better weaker foot I feel, at least in terms of striking the ball, Messi can obviously dribble fantasticly with both feet.

The main thing in common they have is that they can win games on their own, other than that they are very different players.

In my time I'd rate Maradona as slightly better than Messi and probably Zidane ahead of him too, the Brazilian Ronaldo is around the same sort of level as well. A few others are up there as mentioned like Pele, Cruyff, Best, Beckenbauer all of which were perhaps better than Messi but I've only really seen those boys on highlight reels so it's tough to judge.

[neekoy]

All he did was get a bit of luck and smack it.

This game is a bit like watching two very good under 16 teams play each other.

and now we get to see why I'll never like Messi more than Rooney.

Get up you cheating b*$t*rd.

At least he isn't rolling around I guess.....

[Bobby G]

I said he is POTENTIALLY the greatest ever, and I stick by it. And thats a fact. Talk to anyone out there and Ill tell you the same, from players, to pundits, to coaches, to the everyday Joe like you Jim.

[MarkBRFC71]

Pele is the yardstick.

Maradona had too many problems and for me could have been even better than he was. In comparison Pele had a long career and to have scored over 1,000 top flight goals overshadows everyone else.

Pele will always be the best for me, followed by our very own Georgie Best, a true footballing genius.

Maradona, simply because he almost single-handedly won the 1986 World Cup, and nearly repeated it 4 years later but for those pesky Germans. Also dragged Napoli to their first Serie A title in years.

Great player though Pele undoubtedly was, he never played in Europe, there's some contention about exactly how competitive some of the games were in which he scored his 1,000 goals, and the teams in which he won World Cups were phenomenal teams all-round with him as the pinnacle.

It's between these two though - George Best in the level below with Cruyff, Puskas, Di Stefano, Zidane and Simon Garner.

[philipl]

Sorry but the Latin American clubs were wiping the floor whenever they played European clubs during Pele' time.

Those arguments against Pele simply don't stack up- he was by a country mile better than Maradona.

[Eddie]

At least he isn't rolling around I guess.....

As I said, everyone dives. Rooney is by no means a terrible diver, there are very few examples when you look at the number of games he has played in and it isn't a standard part of his game. A couple of those are also what I would put into the "expected contact" type of dive, a bit like Olsson's, which I don't actually consider to be as bad. I'd love to see it all eliminated, but it simply won't happen, just don't want to see the sport turned into a complete nancy-boy affair with players clutching their faces (like Busquets did yesterday), or doing 7 rolls after a tackle that neither hurt nor was it a foul (as Messi did yesterday, rolling for 5 minutes until he got the foul and then popping straight up).

[ewoodpo]

Messi is playing in a quality team, he is only 22 and will get even better. It's a bit too early to compare him to Maradona he won that 86 world cup on his own. He also won the league for a average Napoli. Pele, Best can't comment as I never saw them play for me Maradona is the best footballer the world has seen.

[Rovermatt]

Messi is a devastating mix of speed, skill, ruthlessness and sickening God-given talent. What a player.

[Rovermatt]

It's between these two though - George Best in the level below with Cruyff, Puskas, Di Stefano, Zidane and Simon Garner.

I don't agree. In any list of the greatest players of all time, it is impossible to separate Maradona, Pele, Cruyff and Best. Puskas and Di Stefano played during a less competitive era. Personally I would now include Zidane with the first four - undoubtedly the greatest player of the last 20 years and a genuine footballing genius.

[T4E]

£2 would of paid £270!!

Tell 'im Hughesy

[MarkBRFC71]

he was by a country mile better than Maradona.

No, I disagree. He was an exceptional player, with a hard to prove or disprove record. He played in exceptional teams, whereas Maradona played for ordinary sides and made them World and Serie A champions. Maradona - by a midges pube - is the better player.