Is Messi Now Officially the Greatest Footballer in History?

Is Messi the greatest player in football history?

  • Yes

  • No

Results are only viewable after voting.
What people often forget about Messi is that he was at his best a decade ago.



He scored 73 goals that season… SEVENTY THREE!

To score that many goals in the modern era when defensive tactics, defensive units, defenders, athleticism etc. are at an all-time high is incredible.

(If you ever get chance to see the entire game back of the 1970 World Cup final you’ll find the defensive tactics of that Italy team fucking laughable… Messi would have scored about 9 goals in that game against that Italy team!)

Messi around a decade ago was so far ahead of anything anyone else has ever done in this sport, it’s no contest for me.

Messi has had the skill ability of Maradona and the scoring ability of Gerd Müller rolled into one player. But what is often forgotten about is that - unlike the last five or so years - ten years ago, Messi also had the defensive tenacity of a world class defensive midfielder to go with all that n’all.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lavinda Past said:
Of his generation, definitely.

Of all time, definitely not.

Whether we'll see better in the future, no-one can possibly say, but you can bet that the media will tell us that Mbappe will be at some point.

(He won't be though)
Click to expand...
I don't believe in a greatest of all time in any sport. You can only be the greatest of your generation.
Messi is the greatest player of the television era. He probably hasn't played a professional match that wasn't televised. There's much more scrutiny now than there ever has been. No one can dine out on some old newspaper report that says they scored a great goal or they ran the show.
 
As brilliant as Messi is, he can never be "officially the greatest player ever ", because, as others have said, it is so difficult to compare individuals from different eras.

I consider Pele to be the best I have ever seen, but I’m not old enough to remember Eusebio nor di Stéfano. Beckenbauer and Cruyff were also absolutely outstanding talents.

Others, younger than me, who don’t remember Pele, will insist that Maradona is the greatest.

It’s not even that easy to compare Messi with Ronaldo, and come up with a definitive answer, as to who is the better of the two, as each has his own unique traits..

Who knows, in a few years' time, Phil Foden, or someone yet to emerge, might be considered the best ever.
 
Vienna_70 said:
As brilliant as Messi is, he can never be "officially the greatest player ever ", because, as others have said, it is so difficult to compare individuals from different eras.

I consider Pele to be the best I have ever seen, but I’m not old enough to remember Eusebio nor di Stéfano. Beckenbauer and Cruyff were also absolutely outstanding talents.

Others, younger than me, who don’t remember Pele, will insist that Maradona is the greatest.

It’s not even that easy to compare Messi with Ronaldo, and come up with a definitive answer, as to who is the better of the two, as each has his own unique traits..

Who knows, in a few years' time, Phil Foden, or someone yet to emerge, might be considered the best ever.
Click to expand...
I am too young to really remember Pele, just about remember some of the 1970 World Cup. What I've since seen of Pele at the 1958 and 1970 World Cups is brilliant but I haven't seen much else.
I've just been reading an article by Tim Vickery where the Brazil coach reckons he was sacked just before the 1970 World Cup because he wasn't going to pick Pele. Thought he was finished.
Pele went on to have a brilliant tournament but maybe he wasn't all that in the late 1960's in Brazil?
 
Based on how the game is now compared to back in the day then yes.

but the players are all athletes with sports science, nutrion and the rest on top for good measure, playing on pitches that resemble snooker tables.

You can never compare players from different generations, but how good would Pele, Maradona, Cruyff etc be if they had the same level of detail as the modern players do?

Subsequently if Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe etc had to play on pitches that resembled ploughed cowfields (Baseball Ground anybody :) and were subjected to the tackles that defenders were allowed to dish out back then (legal assault basically) how good would they be?

I always say Maradona as that's what I saw growing up, but don't have an issue if Messi is labelled as the GOAT (as the kids would say)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.