SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer Leo Messi the best ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yozvl3y29...ture=plpp_video

This video is great to watch. Really Inspirational. And to think he is only 24. He has many years ahead of him still but to me I think he has surpassed Pele and Maradona in skill.

George Best was the best ever. Will never be beaten..

Besty was mustard no doubt......but for me Garrincha was years ahead of his time:

Quotes: http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=63868/quotes.html

"Garrincha was a phenomenal player. Without him by my side, I would never have won three World Cups over the course of my career."
Pele, Garrincha's team-mate at the 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cups

youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_V6y5P050M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx1jfndUXqk

Wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrincha

"He had several birth defects: his spine was deformed, his right leg bent inwards and his left leg six centimeters shorter and curved outwards, none of which impeded his ability to play football at the highest level."

Messi is prob like top30 or top 50, prob the biggest choker of all time.

Messi is indeed a great player--Pele in his prime, very good--but I must agree with Bazza--George Best was the best I ever saw and if he had played longer and been able to conquer his demons, everyone would be on the same page.

rating players is hard.

Top 3 according to most fans are Pele, Maradona, Di Stefano.

Many Argies will tell you that Moreno is their best player ever but couldnt make it to Europe because of the world war, still a great player, behind then we have Zidane, Cruyff, Eusebio.

Here is a list of players that were more dominant than Messi and didnt need Xavi and Iniesta to win things. These players got things done on their own.

Weah, Savicevic, Puskas, Laudrup, Eto, Stoickov, Hagi, Van Basten, Baggio, Figo, Ronaldo, Robben, Suker, Gonzalez, Batistuta, Eto, Garrincha, Fat Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka.

Messi is somewhere between Rivaldo, Bergkam, Rooney, Drogba, Sanchez, Xavi, Iniesta, Shevshenko, Klissmann... brilliant players that dependend on other great players to make it happen.

Messi is like LeBron James, he is the medias hero but on his own... he chokes.

Curious ... how many of these guys did you see play, live or otherwise?

Im 27, so most of them except for the really old ones.

Weah was an animal, he would slap Messi around.

I always struggle with the concept of comparing players across eras. I tend to ask: Did he dominate his era? Then, would he dominate in any era? What actually constitutes dominance?

what era is messi dominating? barcelona is dominating right now with about 8 elite players.

these were players that didnt play for the best team of all time.

messi is like van persie, they are phenomenal club players but they are little chihuahuas in their national teams.