I'm reading over the last few posts...keep in mind, I don't watch a lot of soccer, but.....

Isn't Pele the GOAT of soccer???

Messi is great but he does El Pibe de Oro's level skill and technique. Close but not there.

The unfortunate thing is that as you stated, he was cooked by coke by Messi's current age.

Messis longevity does not make him the goat over Maradona though.

I have Pele 2nd. His club resume pales in comparison to Messi's. He played against weak competition in the Brazil league.

His International resume is better but Messi made up much ground during his last two International tournaments. Also, contrary to common perception, Pele won two World Cups, not three. He played only one game in the 1962 World Cup. And he played with probably 10 of the 50 greatest International players ever. The Brazil teams in 1958 and 1970 were loaded with stars. Messi never had that kind of help at the International level.

If we're going off skill, Matt Le Tissier and Dennis Bergkamp are two of the five greatest players ever.

Maradona had absurd skill but why is he better than Messi? What did he accomplish better? The World Cup in 1986 was legendary; one man taking over a tournament. That's not enough to overcome Messi's club accomplishments and his own World Cup run here in 2022 at 35 years old. Messi has been a huge star for about 15 years now. Besides Ronaldo, nobody was on top that long.

He's 100% the GOAT.

The ONLY solid argument against him is that he's only done it in one league (not counting Ligue 1, obv). However, I don't hold that against players when it comes to their greatness. Plenty of absolute legends only did it in one league.

Ronaldo Nizario or Maradona are my GOATs

Fat Ronaldo is a top 10 player, but he shouldn't be in the GOAT conversation.

Ya. Definitely a top 3 striker of all time but he ain't no Messi. Messi has it all: finishing, great (not elite) speed, dribbling, set pieces, crosses, passes. CR7 is a close second.

For the “my gut tells me” crowd:


Grant Wahl was covering a World Cup soccer match last weekend in Qatar when he collapsed and died.

Family members Wednesday said Wahl died from a ruptured blood vessel.

Wahl's wife, Dr. Céline Gounder, said an autopsy was conducted by the New York City Medical Examiner's Office after his .

“Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium,” Gounder said.

So your gut tells you it was either the Qatari government or vaccine related?

If he wouldn't have spent so much time out with his knees, maybe. He wasn't quite the same after that first knee injury at Inter, and then he started getting fat a few years later.

Man, that guy is basically my age.

He got fat AF.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...ibiza-27523206

Are you kidding me? Messi has had several high level players with vast champions league experience around him. Arguero, DI Maria, Peredes just to name a few. People love to make excuses for Messi but the fact is he's rarely ever been the same player for Argentina as he was for Barcelona. And when you look at the resume the likes of Ronaldinho and the Brazilian Ronaldo were just as talented but at least won a world cup. If Mbappe beats Messi in the final that's a HUGE dent to Messi's legacy imo.

Yep. The guy was a star and won a world cup age 16!!..just an incredible achievement.

The guy died after complaining of a long illness with a worsening course and there was no reason to suspect foul play, but people were still posting that their "gut" was telling them he was murdered by the government in Qatar for wearing a gay pride shirt.