BR - Lionel Messi, ever since he burst into the football scene, has been nothing less than mesmerizing.
A three-time recipient of the FIFA World Footballer of the Year Award, three-time winner of the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona, five-time winner of La Liga and countless other honors, Messi has established himself as one of the greatest football players to have ever graced this beautiful game.
Wonder if the guy that wrote this article is French :).
I am unconvinced that international success is required to make you one of the all time greats- it is a team game after all and if your international team mates are not up to the standard of your club mates there isn't a whole lot you can do about it.
We probably expect too much of him when he plays for Argentina. He has a good goalscoring record, but maybe it is unrealistic to think he can be as good with his national side in a different setup than in his club side.
Ronaldo is much the same- he does play well for Portugal but he does not really have the players around him either and isn't given the freedom he has at Madrid.
But still one thing has to be remembered. Messi is a mere 24 years old. He probably has at least a decade of his career ahead of him and another 3 world cups in that time.
Zidane was not hailed as one of the all time greats until he was in his late twenties and then early thirties. Zidane was 26 when he won the World Cup and his FIRST world player of the year award. He was 28 at Euro 2000- Messi will be 26 at his next world cup in 2014 and chances are, he will probably have at least 4 world player awards by then.
The fact Messi has reached this level at 24 gives him room to push on into the stratosphere and reach toward the stars or Maradona and Pele. There is time, and a lot of it!
It will be fascinating if nothing else to see if he gets even better or is still doing his thang in 5 or 6 years.
i wasnt born yet when maradona had his best years but looking at his stats now im seriously wondering how is he so popular because they are not that impressive especially when you compare them to messis stats.. no doubt he was amazing player but saying that messi is miles a way from him or someone else is just rubbish :S
Messi is the best ever for me. Given his age he is unbelieveable. I let the stats decide. You don't have to win the World Cup to be the best player ever. If that was the criteria then you are telling me that players like Gilberto Silva and Luca Toni are great players. They are average at best yet have World Cup medals to their name.