Brazilian legend, Pele, has given some advice to Barcelona star Lionel Messi, with the Argentinean now being hailed as one of the greatest players of all time.
Pele said: “They are always trying to compare someone to Pele. But I always joke with my Argentine friends that they must first choose who is the best player from Argentina. Then, when one of them scores a thousand goals, then we can start talking.”
The 69-year-old added on Messi: “He’s a great player. He plays very well for Barcelona, but has failed to show his talent with the Argentina team. Maybe he can at the World Cup. Let’s wait and see.”
The former Brazil number 10 famously scored 1,280 goals in 1,363 games whilst Messi so far has 133 goals in his short career.
Meanwhile Mark Lawrenson in his newspaper column, questioned if Leo should be considered one of the best players of all time.
He wrote: “I was lucky enough to be in Barcelona last week to witness Lionel Messi shatter Arsenal’s Champions League hopes. He was brilliant but people are getting ahead of themselves when they say he is the best player ever to have played the game.
Let’s just see what happens in the World Cup before we start hailing him as better than Diego Maradona. The former Argentine captain single handedly won the 1986 tournament in Mexico and was quite unbelievable at times.
At the moment, Messi is a top player but is only 22-years-old. He is sure to get better but the way football is today, there are massive over reactions when a side has a particularly good victory and then equal outcry when they get beaten.
Nobody was claiming Messi was the greatest ever player after Barcelona drew 2-2 at the Emirates Stadium, were they? He’s an exceptional talent but is not yet on par with Maradona or Pele.”
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