Can there really be someone better than Messi in modern football?

[VorZakone]

As good as Messi, I guess so yes. But better than Messi? We've seen Messi doing pretty much everything except win a WC. Multiple league titles, contributing to 2 trebles, 3 CL wins in which he participated, deciding big matches, solo goals against the very best defenders, scoring hattricks for fun, maintaining an unreal consistency since he broke through, insane level of playmaking, record amount of goals in a calender year (91!), record amount of goals in a season (73!), most Ballon D'Ors, and all this in modern football of which most people I think agree that football is being more fast-paced and professional than ever. And still only 28 for christ sake. We could safely say he has another 2 years in which he can play at his current level.

Seriously, how ridicilously good does someone have to be to outshine Messi?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

- Be Messi, but taller.

- Be German Messi.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

- Be Messi, but taller.

- Be German Messi.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Be on the cover of both FIFA and PES.

 

[Bubz27]

Depends if they let anyone else take PEDs and get away with it. Bite

 

[Tarrou]

Will be interesting to see how he adapts as he starts to slow down a bit. Would love to see him in the Pirlo role!

 

[kouroux]

Anything can happen but I don't think there will be a better player.

 

[JamesB__]

Ronaldo is the closest but still pretty far behind.

Messi is the greatest ever, not surprising that no other player in decades is anywhere near as good as him.

 

[VorZakone]

He also like the greats before him has the ability to look on a different level compared to other elite players. When he steps up his game, he significantly outshines Neymar and Suarez with ease.

 

[Impulse]

Joe Cole.

 

[DJ Jeff]

Someone will possibly achieve more than him, but I don't think there'll ever be a player I choose in a hypothetical first XI ahead of Messi. There will never be anyone with better footballing ability than him, even if they win more stuff.

 

[do.ob]

How can you rule out that there will ever be someone as good as someone who already proved that it's possible? Maybe some day there will be a Messi who is a head taller and thus even more complete?!

 

[Natener]

Someone will possibly achieve more than him, but I don't think there'll ever be a player I choose in a hypothetical first XI ahead of Messi. There will never be anyone with better footballing ability than him, even if they win more stuff.

I used to think that about Maradona too, as I'm sure many others did as well. The only never in this world is to never take anything for granted.

 

[Sammyjunn]

People will realise how insane he is once he retires, now he can have some lesser matches and we'll remember those. But his highlight movie when he retires will be just extraordinary.

 

[rcoobc]

Joe Cole.

Is Joe Cole's world cup goal better than anything Messi has ever scored? (Just the shot, not going past 100 players first).

 

[Invictus]

Indubitably. Whenever there's a footballer (or any sportsman) who transcends his particular discipline and era, there's a natural tendency for observers to go into a bubble, and inevitably question if there will ever be a player as great as them. The law of averages kind of dictate that there won't be a significant deviation in the short or even medium term; but long term - you do tend to get anomalies that push the limits of what you previously defined as the greatest. Happened with Di Stéfano, Pelé, Maradona in the past - and a similar thing will happen with Messi too. Almost 40 years between Di Stéfano (the 'Messi' of his era in terms of European club football - bit disrespectful, but ...), and Lionel.

Maybe another half a century for the next Messi. At first, there'll be resistance to acknowledge that player's greatness (as was the case with Messi vs Maradona), but over time, the narrative will start favoring the new guy. Though that raises another curious point - what will football look like in 50 odd years? There is some speculation that sports may even die down a slow death after peaking over the next decade, as people are enlightened and start abandoning this particular form of entertainment, as they abandoned other forms in the past. Or, maybe we'll even see athletes infused with bio-mechanics - heightening their athletic performance levels further - far beyond Messi/ Pelé levels - though it will be relatively harder for one person to rise above that all.

 

[ADJUDICATOR]

Yes, definitely.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I don't think so, probably not in our lifetimes anyway, but who knows.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

It's all so subjective as well, and that's why it is possible.

What if Messi had played for this Leicester side? They'd have been eulogizing about that one league win he had for decades even if it was indeed a team effort. So the person who gives a big weightage to such achievements will rank them higher than the ones Messi has actually had.

And if anything, the parameters change, along with the times. While Messi has 90 goals in a year and it seems absolutely mental by any measure, there might again come a time (or a format change) which leads to consecutive CL wins (or 3 or 4). And then, you never know, we might see a team win the WC back to back in the future, or 4/5 international trophies on the bounce with one huge name involved in all of them.

So the subjectivity of it all, and the parameters make it very possible. What I do know is that freakish greatness will come again. It is IMO bound to as the interest levels and the money invested is so high. Beyond that it depends on those little factors mentioned earlier.

For me personally, it is impossible to fathom (to THIS level). But maybe when I'm 60/70 there'll be someone who as per his times, is equally freakish in nature. So, I'm going with yes.

 

[DJ Jeff]

I used to think that about Maradona too, as I'm sure many others did as well. The only never in this world is to never take anything for granted.

I dunno.. Messi and Ronaldo are special characters as well as talents. What will really show how great they are is when they retire, and an amazing BPITW season goes back to being a 40-45 goal season.

 

[Snow]

Treble isn' the same in every country. It's a lot harder to do in England than Spain as the Copa del Rey isn't not only seeded to begin with but also 2-legged which favors the big teams. Big teams are similarly favored in Italy. In any case, the achievement of a team shouldn't be held against a player. You shouldn't need to tally up votes for a personal trophy either when comparing player because those kind of votes can also be biased toward a team's success in a competition or be the result of popularity for that matter (like his Golden ball in 2014).

Talking strictly football he's the best. Maradona wasn't as good because part of being a footballer is actually showing up on the pitch and he didn't do that because he couldn't keep his nose clean. Put them together on their best day and it will be hard to say which one is better but overall Messi is better because he consistently shows it and has done for a longer time (or he will at least do that).

Will there be someone better? It's impossible to say no to that. The sport will develop further, more and more athletic freak babies will be born. Just look at the NBA right now. Michael Jordan wouldn't be a freak of nature in the current environment but he was so good in his day that when he retired for the first time it gave other teams a chance to become champions. Look at Curry and what he's done to the 3 point shot. Something like that can always be done in football or any other sport. It "just" takes a new kind of Messi to do that.

 

[Speak]

I'd definitely go with 'no'.
Unless they increase game time from 90 minutes, or something else drastic like that.

There's a limit to how much damage any player can do to the opposition within 90 minutes of football. 70 goals is about the max. in all competitions, I'd say.

For someone to match that goal record and still be better as an overall player. I don't see it happening.

 

[OutlawGER]

Treble isn' the same in every country. It's a lot harder to do in England than Spain as the Copa del Rey isn't not only seeded to begin with but also 2-legged which favors the big teams. Big teams are similarly favored in Italy. In any case, the achievement of a team shouldn't be held against a player. You shouldn't need to tally up votes for a personal trophy either when comparing player because those kind of votes can also be biased toward a team's success in a competition or be the result of popularity for that matter (like his Golden ball in 2014).

Talking strictly football he's the best. Maradona wasn't as good because part of being a footballer is actually showing up on the pitch and he didn't do that because he couldn't keep his nose clean. Put them together on their best day and it will be hard to say which one is better but overall Messi is better because he consistently shows it and has done for a longer time (or he will at least do that).

Will there be someone better? It's impossible to say no to that. The sport will develop further, more and more athletic freak babies will be born. Just look at the NBA right now. Michael Jordan wouldn't be a freak of nature in the current environment but he was so good in his day that when he retired for the first time it gave other teams a chance to become champions. Look at Curry and what he's done to the 3 point shot. Something like that can always be done in football or any other sport. It "just" takes a new kind of Messi to do that.

We know it already, everything is harder in England.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I dunno.. Messi and Ronaldo are special characters as well as talents. What will really show how great they are is when they retire, and an amazing BPITW season goes back to being a 40-45 goal season.

Why weren't Di Stefano, Maradona etc special "characters"? Messi and Ronaldo are more special in that sense because you know them so much better.

 

[We need an rvn]

did we ever think we'd see someone as special as Messi, probably not. hence there's no reason to think someone even better will come along in our lifetime.

although I felt silly when I typed it as I don't we will.

The question we could also be asking, will Messi be as appreciated by those who weren't able to see him like we have. ie. I actually don't think Pele is on the same level as a number of players playing these days, hence what will people 40 years from now be saying about Messi.

 

[Grylte]

i think that Ronaldo would have been better if he was less selfish, and put the team ahead of himself.
He has the abilities and has a bigger and stronger body.
He has at some points been better, but it is a while ago.
And in the future, i think everyone will agree that Messi was over time the better of them.

 

[sunama]

I'd definitely say, 'yes'.

Will someone ever run faster than Carl Lewis? Yes
Will someone ever be able to win more than Roger Federer? Yes (Djokovic is on target to do this).
Will someone ever be able to beat Steffi Graf's records? Yes (Williams should achieve this within 12 months).
Will someone ever be able to score more home runs than Babe Ruth? Yes
Will someone ever be better than Messi. Yes.

As a rule of thumb, in all sports, there will ALWAYS be someone better. There is no exception to this rule.

 

[Speak]

I'd definitely say, 'yes'.

Will someone ever run faster than Carl Lewis? Yes
Will someone ever be able to win more than Roger Federer? Yes (Djokovic is on target to do this).
Will someone ever be able to beat Steffi Graf's records? Yes (Williams should achieve this within 12 months).
Will someone ever be able to score more home runs than Babe Ruth? Yes
Will someone ever be better than Messi. Yes.

As a rule of thumb, in all sports, there will ALWAYS be someone better. There is no exception to this rule.

Interesting how none of the other questions mention the word 'better'.
Just Messi's.

 

[Libano]

I think there have been players in the same talent ballpark over the last 30 years (the real Ronaldo, Ronaldinho), but Messi is just unbelievably consistent and hardly ever injured.

 

[Sigma]

Do it in more than 1 league.

 

[Mezano]

Messi's stats are linked to a ridiculously talented Barcelona side. Given that there is an ever increasing consolidation of top talent at a small number of teams those records are likely to be broken in time unless football takes a different turn somewhere.

 

[adexkola]

He also like the greats before him has the ability to look on a different level compared to other elite players. When he steps up his game, he significantly outshines Neymar and Suarez with ease.

The last sentence is hyperbole (repeated so many times it is accepted as fact). When all of them are performing at peak levels, Messi is on top, but not "significantly outshining".

 

[adexkola]

Messi's stats are linked to a ridiculously talented Barcelona side. Given that there is an ever increasing consolidation of top talent at a small number of teams those records are likely to be broken in time unless football takes a different turn somewhere.

And yes.

 

[Rado_N]

Yes.

 

[ShakeUnBake]

No. I can't see it. Even if he doesn't score, his input is incredible.

 

[Red_toad]

I used to think that about Maradona too, as I'm sure many others did as well. The only never in this world is to never take anything for granted.

Maradona performed at International level far better than Messi. I've still never seen a better player than Diego. Messi has no area of his skill set where he is better than him.

For this thread I'd never say there will never be a better player than any player, as there are always areas a player is weak in.

 

[Red_toad]

I don't think so, probably not in our lifetimes anyway, but who knows.

Best player I've seen was Maradona, best player my mates seen (who's 10 years older than me) was Best. Maybe so far in your lifetime it's Messi. But I'd say you've fair few decades left for someone to better him.

 

[VorZakone]

Best player I've seen was Maradona, best player my mates seen (who's 10 years older than me) was Best. Maybe so far in your lifetime it's Messi. But I'd say you've fair few decades left for someone to better him.

Why do you consider Maradona better than Messi? Really curious.

 

[Spoony]

Best of his generation. I'm sure there'll be others.

 

[Van Piorsing]

I still would love to test that 'best player of all times' in the Premier League... who knows, maybe when he'll hit 30's he'll have hunger for more adventurous challenge.

Diego vs Leo ? Both transcendental footballers. It's like comparing electromagnetism to gravity.