Gareth Bale

[DonAndres]

Agree with Beast, World Cup still matters a lot. I don't think one can say international football is seconary to club football these days. In terms of popularity and viewership etc. I am pretty sure WC beats CL hands down.

This is easily true. If you want an overwhelming consensus opinion on Messi being the GOAT even from non-football fans perspective, then WC would provide that. It's not exactly fair that one competition can be so defining in a player's image, but that's what global exposure does. CL is more interesting among football fans but World Cup is on a truly massive world-wide stage that gets the attention of people who barely even know about football.

If his success is club level, then there'll always be haters or superficial fans who doubt him. Either way, any educated football fan would know how much ability Leo has, and how he'll easily contend for the title of "greatest ever" by the time he is retired with or without a World Cup.

 

[MagIX]

... called Diego Armando Maradona (who for my money is still the best ever player to grace any football pitch )

I agree.

Maradona is for me the best player I've ever seen, no one has ever touched the ball like him.
Even if he had not won the WC or he had won 3 WCs, if had won 5 Cl or no one, my opinion would be exactly the same.
I do not give a shit about what a player won with his team to judge him, because otherwise for example Gattuso (WC, CL) would be one of the best midfielders ever.

btw the WC is at most 7 games every 4 years...simply ridiculous judging a player with 7 games.
And i think you can't compare the soccer of nowadays to the soccer of 20/30 years ago. Maradona, with his "lifestyle" could play only for Napoli, no other team (especially big teams) would have accepted his behavior. Nowadays impossible.

I don't think that Messi (even if he win 2 WC) is better than Maradona, and honestly i don't care.
Messi is the best player of his generation without any doubt (and one of the best ever without any doubt), and CR (94mio) and Bale (100mio) can only polish his shoes.

 

[Kerrybai]

I agree.

Maradona is for me the best player I've ever seen, no one has ever touched the ball like him.
Even if he had not won the WC or he had won 3 WCs, if had won 5 Cl or no one, my opinion would be exactly the same.
I do not give a shit about what a player won with his team to judge him, because otherwise for example Gattuso (WC, CL) would be one of the best midfielders ever.

btw the WC is at most 7 games every 4 years...simply ridiculous judging a player with 7 games.
And i think you can't compare the soccer of nowadays to the soccer of 20/30 years ago. Maradona, with his "lifestyle" could play only for Napoli, no other team (especially big teams) would have accepted his behavior. Nowadays impossible.

I don't think that Messi (even if he win 2 WC) is better than Maradona, and honestly i don't care.
Messi is the best player of his generation without any doubt (and one of the best ever without any doubt), and CR (94mio) and Bale (100mio) can only polish his shoes.

The discussion is more to do with his legacy as opposed to whether or not he is the best.

For me he is the best of all time and would be without any silverware. I put Messi at number 1 because of science. Simply put footballers now are faster and stronger than they were 10, 20, 30 years ago etc. Players like Messi and Maradona are special talents and I have no doubt Maradona would rip up today's footballers.

However it's impossible for us to say with certainty who the greatest of all time really is. It's all opinion and none of us have a definitive answer. All I know is that football has come along way since the 1986 world cup. It's impossible to separate Messi and Maradona because they played in different eras, so for me I give Messi the edge due to the advances in sports science. In 30 years time if I am debating between Messi and his next contender I'm sure I will apply these same rules and side with the new kid as the best of all time.

Anyhow the debate was concerned with his legacy as opposed to actual talent, and I agree with your point on judging a player over a 7 game tournament. George Best is one of the greatest ever in my opinion and the chap was never given a shot at a world cup.

 

[oz187]

Ronaldo & Zidane did... the hype especially for Ronaldo was out of this world.. you were too young but old farts like me were speechless to see what Ronaldo could do.. even Messi can be stopped against parked buses , Ronaldo there was no stopping him he was the complete package , shooting , speed , dribbling , both feet .. doesn't matter if he was playing against a young Maldini or Blanc .. everyone suffered

Except that this is false. It was Messi that scored against all 19 La Liga teams in a row, not Ronaldo. It's Messi that was top scorer in the Champions League 4 seasons in a row, not Ronaldo. It's Messi that has the world record for goal scoring, not Ronaldo. If you want to class being unstoppable as the primary indicator of a footballer, Messi is the best player of all time. Add in his ability to assist and no player comes close. Yes, some parked buses have stopped him. But every single other footballer in history has been successfully stopped by many defences, both parked buses and not.

 

[ThwiX]

Beast is a biased madridista, no point arguing with him over Messi.

 

[Zuess99]

@beast "even Messi can be stopped against parked buses , Ronaldo there was no stopping him he was the complete package , shooting , speed , dribbling , both feet .. doesn't matter if he was playing against a young Maldini or Blanc .. everyone suffered "

you seem to have forgotten the 2006 world cup too.

 

[Luftstalag14]

Yes CR7 can be stopped, like everyone else.

 

[Zuess99]

he was talking about fat ronaldo, Cr7 can be stopped by the wind.

 

[suckabov]

So Zidane has criticised the Bale fee. What next? The Bale transfer has so far brought more bad publicity than good.

 

[Beast]

@beast "even Messi can be stopped against parked buses , Ronaldo there was no stopping him he was the complete package , shooting , speed , dribbling , both feet .. doesn't matter if he was playing against a young Maldini or Blanc .. everyone suffered "

you seem to have forgotten the 2006 world cup too.

You seem to have forgotten Ronaldo shape in 2006 ...

 

[Beast]

Except that this is false. It was Messi that scored against all 19 La Liga teams in a row, not Ronaldo. It's Messi that was top scorer in the Champions League 4 seasons in a row, not Ronaldo. It's Messi that has the world record for goal scoring, not Ronaldo. If you want to class being unstoppable as the primary indicator of a footballer, Messi is the best player of all time. Add in his ability to assist and no player comes close. Yes, some parked buses have stopped him. But every single other footballer in history has been successfully stopped by many defences, both parked buses and not.

... Stats stats stats... And CR was last year top goal scored in the CL so your point is CR is better than Messi last year ?
in one of those seasons Messi scored more than 50 % of his goals in one game... ? as for scoring against all la liga CR also scored against all sides in the liga including his own in less time than Messi
Ronaldo before his two knee injury was unstoppable , Parked buses or not , top defenders or not... it really doesn't matter.. even with half leg and 10 men (Van Bommel dive) he managed to draw against Barcelona
Who is the top scorer of all time in the World cup ?
I pity most of you who missed Ronaldo in his prime and i understand you are doubtful after seeing Messi but Ronaldo was simply out of this world.. he will be ranked behind Messi due to consistency which stopped him from achieving a lot more but you look at Ronaldo 3 seasons with PSV-Barcelona and Inter before the knee was replaced and you would know he was destined for a lot more than he did

 

[AnfieldEd]

Definitely When Ronaldo was at his peak I thought he was going to be better than Pele.

Every single attribute you think a striker should have. Ronaldo had it. He was that damned good. Shame how he ended up.

 

[Kerrybai]

@beast for me Ronaldo is the only one that comes close to Messi in the modern era. I don't even view the pre injury and post injury Ronaldo as the same player. His dribbling was a joy to watch... With as much as he achieved there will always be a sense of what could have been.

 

[Beast]

@beast for me Ronaldo is the only one that comes close to Messi in the modern era. I don't even view the pre injury and post injury Ronaldo as the same player. His dribbling was a joy to watch... With as much as he achieved there will always be a sense of what could have been.

I agree on both accounts , the pre and post injury ... and what could have been ... pity

 

[Chevy]

Ronaldo was out of this world. Beast is right on the money, even his sole season in Barcelona was like nothing else I'd ever seen. I mean, the guy was barely 20 years old and already just looked absolutely and utterly unstoppable. He had insane pace, unbelievable ball control, terrific balance (even when he was running at full speed so you couldn't push him off the ball that easily), you freaking name it. And then he could finish with either foot from every possible angle.

I mean hell, you could make the case that we never even got to see him at his absolute prime due to the injuries. It's like God accidentally overpowered the guy and then threw all these huge obstacles in his way later on to at least give him a challenge.