Popular Post villa89 Posted December 19, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 19, 2022 Its impossible to compare players from different eras and its very hard to compare players who play in different positions. For me there's no greatest of all time, there's the best in the world at the time in the position, that's all. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 minute ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: Still would go with Maradona, if you read his book El Diego and watch the documentary we can see him differently. Improving a struggling and unfashionable Napoli team and winning trophies with them was unbelievable and to play regularly in that very same league that ruined the career of Van Basten. Italian league was violent then... Messi is definitely top three. Anyone seen Pele's goalscoring record, it's phenomenal. Euphoria aside @Zatman might have a point, it's easy to get carried away and forget about other legends due to Messi being " fresh " in the mind. I've just started thinking about the likes of Maradonna ( Number one for me ) , Pele, Ronaldinho, Fat Ronaldo, Cruyff, etc etc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Who are your top 2/3 mate? 1. Maldini 2. Maradona Joint 3rd. Xavi/Iniesta since they cant be separated 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Euphoria aside @Zatman might have a point, it's easy to get carried away and forget about other legends due to Messi being " fresh " in the mind. I've just started thinking about the likes of Maradonna ( Number one for me ) , Pele, Ronaldinho, Fat Ronaldo, Cruyff, etc etc Can you imagine these players in the current game with barely any physical contact? Maradona, Pele, and Ronaldo were also very quick aswell as fast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
messi11 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 7 minutes ago, Zatman said: 1. Maldini 2. Maradona Joint 3rd. Xavi/Iniesta since they cant be separated Nice try! Maldini didn't ever win a World Cup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted December 19, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted December 19, 2022 6 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: Can you imagine these players in the current game with barely any physical contact? Maradona, Pele, and Ronaldo were also very quick aswell as fast! The game has moved on. They’d probably be far worse than their era because the pace of the game these days is a thousand times faster. You drop Ronaldo or Messi or Mbappe into the 70s or 80s and they would eclipse everyone 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
messi11 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 I think with time Messi records, achievements and status in the game will only grow stronger. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arj Guy Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 (edited) It’s Messi obviously. The Maradona debate at this point is actually laughable. Messi’s trophy haul is far superior, his longevity is far superior his stats are far superior. He has the dribbling of Maradona whilst being one the best passers, playmakers and goal scorers ever. Nostalgia or stupidity are only reasons anyone would argue Maradona is greater. And then of course you have the wind up merchants who just like to be a contrarian as can be seen in this thread Edited December 19, 2022 by Arj Guy 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 25 minutes ago, Arj Guy said: It’s Messi obviously. The Maradona debate at this point is actually laughable. Messi’s trophy haul is far superior, his longevity is far superior his stats are far superior. He has the dribbling of Maradona whilst being one the best passers, playmakers and goal scorers ever. Nostalgia or stupidity are only reasons anyone would argue Maradona is greater. And then of course you have the wind up merchants who just like to be a contrarian as can be seen in this thread I do agree it’s Messi, based on career achievements and longevity, but Maradona was a superb passer, playmaker and goalscorer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Zatman said: 1. Maldini 2. Maradona Joint 3rd. Xavi/Iniesta since they cant be separated This is peak TRO/Gerrard-level baffling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 People can laugh but nobody can give me a reason Messi is better than Maldini. 25 year career, 8 league titles, 5 Champions League. Was a few penalties away from winning the World Cup and 8 seconds from winning the Euros Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 4 minutes ago, Zatman said: People can laugh but nobody can give me a reason Messi is better than Maldini. 25 year career, 8 league titles, 5 Champions League. Was a few penalties away from winning the World Cup and 8 seconds from winning the Euros You've just listed a load of things where he is inferior to Messi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 3 minutes ago, Zatman said: People can laugh but nobody can give me a reason Messi is better than Maldini. 25 year career, 8 league titles, 5 Champions League. Was a few penalties away from winning the World Cup and 8 seconds from winning the Euros Simple answer is that Messi could (and did) do things that barely any other player in history was capable of doing - he then did it on a consistent and frequent basis which makes it astounding. Maldini may have been a great defender, perhaps the greatest defender of all time but the greatest defender of all time should not be comparable with the greatest attacker of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Stevo985 said: The game has moved on. They’d probably be far worse than their era because the pace of the game these days is a thousand times faster. You drop Ronaldo or Messi or Mbappe into the 70s or 80s and they would eclipse everyone Yes the game has moved on, of course and very obviously so. Yet those same players would have benefited immensely from improved training regimes, knowledge, sports science, physiotherapy, that the modern game would have offered. Ronaldo was the one player to bridge the gap between modern and past football and succeeded in Italian football when it was still a very hard and physical league. We will never know if Messi could play in the 1980's Italian league and succeed; it destroyed Van Basten (who was also one of my favourites growing up, even had his Diadora boots). Sure Messi is in the conversation and i'm not taking anything away from his achievements, he's definitely up there with the greats of the game. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 23 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said: Simple answer is that Messi could (and did) do things that barely any other player in history was capable of doing - he then did it on a consistent and frequent basis which makes it astounding. Maldini may have been a great defender, perhaps the greatest defender of all time but the greatest defender of all time should not be comparable with the greatest attacker of all time. Yes but the forward bias is what makes it a bad argument for me. I think some people appreciate the art of defending that cant be teached either Neuer has changed goalkeeping forever and now every team wants a sweeper keeper. Another one that should be mentioned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
messi11 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 I hope Messi's Instagram post can beat The Egg for the most liked post of all time. That will cement him as the greatest of all time even more in my opinion EGG: 56.1 Million likes MESSI: 40.7 Million likes under 14 hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Zatman said: Yes but the forward bias is what makes it a bad argument for me. I think some people appreciate the art of defending that cant be teached either Neuer has changed goalkeeping forever and now every team wants a sweeper keeper. Another one that should be mentioned It has to be an attacking player though because thats whats gets people off their seats. Thats why I would never pick Mcgrath as the Villa GOAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 3 hours ago, Stevo985 said: The game has moved on. They’d probably be far worse than their era because the pace of the game these days is a thousand times faster. You drop Ronaldo or Messi or Mbappe into the 70s or 80s and they would eclipse everyone i dont think you can say that. They wouldnt have the same training facilities, they would get zero protection from refs, they wouldnt play on great pitches. Recovery methods different. They would be injured more and longevity wouldnt be there. Pele retired at 30. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 10 minutes ago, PaulC said: i dont think you can say that. They wouldnt have the same training facilities, they would get zero protection from refs, they wouldnt play on great pitches. Recovery methods different. They would be injured more and longevity wouldnt be there. Pele retired at 30. Absolutely spot on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beastmix Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Maradona, for me. It's reasonable to say Maradona and Messi are directly comparible in ability, size, and style, so we could make a case to say, from a base-point, they're about as equal as it gets. Then, take away all the advantages Messi has had: sport science, heavy data analysis, higher quality teammates (club/national), better pitches, and so on. Take these things away and, suddenly, it should all become clearer. Messi is still the 2nd best though... and I don't even like the man. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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