Rank Maradona, Messi, Pele and C.Ronaldo

Midrich said:
Can you tell me what Maradona has won & scored in comparison to Ronaldo :lol:

I don't even want to bring up Pele who i doubt people on this forum are old enough to have even watched him score goals in world cups :lol:

Messi v Ronaldo may not be up fot debate -

But my lord C Ronaldo vs Maradona & Pele is because they share nothing in comparison to Messi's stats or trophies or goals or European cups or Balon D'ors.

Maradona was arguably lucky not to be born in to VAR or he wouldn't have even won a world cup for the handball goal against England!!
:lol:

Ronaldo trumps Maradona & Pele - its not even close.

Brazil & Argentina have won world cups both with and without messi, Maradona & Pele. Their world cups are nothing special, it's like Germany or France winning a world cup once again when its been done over and over again to call Thomas Muller one of the best.

Portugal has never won the world cup which shows something lacking in the national ability as a whole or even poor management as seen with England time and time again.

Ronaldo trumps both in so many ways that it isnt even close for me.


1. Messi
2. Ronaldo


3. Druggy Cocaine Maradona with the hand of god

4. Pele well done for international football
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Staaaph...
 
Midrich said:
Can you tell me what Maradona has won & scored in comparison to Ronaldo :lol:

I don't even want to bring up Pele who i doubt people on this forum are old enough to have even watched him score goals in world cups :lol:

Messi v Ronaldo may not be up fot debate -

But my lord C Ronaldo vs Maradona & Pele is because they share nothing in comparison to Messi's stats or trophies or goals or European cups or Balon D'ors.

Maradona was arguably lucky not to be born in to VAR or he wouldn't have even won a world cup for the handball goal against England!!
:lol:

Ronaldo trumps Maradona & Pele - its not even close.

Brazil & Argentina have won world cups both with and without messi, Maradona & Pele. Their world cups are nothing special, it's like Germany or France winning a world cup once again when its been done over and over again to call Thomas Muller one of the best.

Portugal has never won the world cup which shows something lacking in the national ability as a whole or even poor management as seen with England time and time again.

Ronaldo trumps both in so many ways that it isnt even close for me.


1. Messi
2. Ronaldo


3. Druggy Cocaine Maradona with the hand of god

4. Pele well done for international football
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Real Madrid have won Champions Leagues without Ronaldo. The Champions League is nothing special it's like Real Madrid winning a CL once again when its been done over and over again to call Bellingham one of the best.

See how that works.
 
The amount of disrespect for Pelé in this thread is astonishing. I would expect it from fanboys but not from generally sensible posters. Maybe this thread needs another reminder of his genius.
 
Messi first and it’s not even close, and i started loving United as a kid because of Ronaldo.
 
Krakenzero said:
The amount of disrespect for Pelé in this thread is astonishing. I would expect it from fanboys but not from generally sensible posters. Maybe this thread needs another reminder of his genius.
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Because he isnt automatically nr. 1?
 
Fortitude said:
The default of dropping Pele to 3rd or even 4th as an afterthought because you literally cannot be arsed to watch footage of him does render his thread redundant, or, at most, an exercise in picking Messi or Maradona, but in actuality Messi, because he’s the only one you’ve seen.

There’ll never be an objective analysis of the subject matter - in time, when the next great #10 comes along, it’ll be the same tonic for Messi with him being pushed into the category Maradona currently resides in.

Would actually be a great thread to reduce to minutiae as to why each of the 3 are what they are skills and intangibles alike.
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Rings true to this day despite being a post from 2022.
 
Krakenzero said:
The amount of disrespect for Pelé in this thread is astonishing. I would expect it from fanboys but not from generally sensible posters. Maybe this thread needs another reminder of his genius.
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France Football gave Pele seven Ballon d'Ors retrospectively if he was eligible, which is a fair reflection of his standing in the game. Messi 8, Pele, 7, Ronaldo 5, next 3. Maradona should have more but also he didn't have the same longevity.
 
Pele, Maradona, Messi


Ronaldo


There’s really no distinguishing between the top three. All at the very top in their respective, and very different eras.
 
Krakenzero said:
The amount of disrespect for Pelé in this thread is astonishing. I would expect it from fanboys but not from generally sensible posters. Maybe this thread needs another reminder of his genius.
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He retired long before most people in the thread were born.

Stories about his greatness written on papyrus doesn't cut it for many.
 
FrankDrebin said:
Maybe it's the Internet but people can't do stop ranking nowadays.
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Put forward an opinion without backing it up with a thought process. You can ask someone that don't know what the sport of football is and they could answer the question.
 
stevoc said:
Probably not but then I don't think Messi would have played the same position or been as demanding of other players to set goals up for him.

Out of interest how many full games do you reckon you've watched of Pele?
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Full games about twenty. Plenty of highlights. Some I can't get back. Many of his matches were not televised. To hold that against his record is churlish, mind.

Pele was Brazil's playmaker, certainly in 1970, and inspired team-mates accordingly.

Midrich said:
Can you tell me what Maradona has won & scored in comparison to Ronaldo
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Well, the World Cup for one!

Messi's WC win was in his fifth attempt (Pele was the focal point of a winning squad at seventeen) and it conceals his post-30s drift.

Maradona taking Napoli to titles and dragging Argentina to WC glory, and another final, are the examples of his genius.

Messi a great player, definitely, but the best ever?

Can't see it past recency bias.
 
I will always argue that Platini was better than Maradona.

As for Cristiano, he just doesn't have the creativity, ingenuity or that extra bit of magic the other top 5 or 6 GOAT's have.
 
Pelé, Maradona, Messi in no particular order.

About three or four light-years

C. Ronaldo.

Suggesting that CR7 is in the same league as the other three borders on blasphemy.
 
I can’t seriously rate players I’ve not watched extensively but my layman view is that Messi is an absolute alien and in a tier of his own among the players I’ve seen. And based on the clips of others, Maradona (not Pele) had that similar pure genius albeit not as much consistency and stats. So I’d go for those two even though it is largely meaningless.
 
doubleohseven said:
Full games about twenty. Plenty of highlights. Some I can't get back. Many of his matches were not televised. To hold that against his record is churlish, mind.

Pele was Brazil's playmaker, certainly in 1970, and inspired team-mates accordingly.



Well, the World Cup for one!

Messi's WC win was in his fifth attempt (Pele was the focal point of a winning squad at seventeen) and it conceals his post-30s drift.

Maradona taking Napoli to titles and dragging Argentina to WC glory, and another final, are the examples of his genius.

Messi a great player, definitely, but the best ever?

Can't see it past recency bias.
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You can say Messi failed to have his iconic WC in his peak years, but great managers, pundits and players were already discussing whether Messi was the greatest ever in 2010-2011. And then he followed that with scoring 93 in a calendar year as a false nr. 9 with orgasmic dribbling and passing. Messi's "average" seasons were in general far better than most great players best seasons.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
I will always argue that Platini was better than Maradona.

As for Cristiano, he just doesn't have the creativity, ingenuity or that extra bit of magic the other top 5 or 6 GOAT's have.
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They battled it out until the WC 86. After that, there was no debate anymore.

France 1982, 1984 and 1986 belong to the greatest teams to ever participate in an international tournament and Platini was at their heart. His 9 goals record at the Euro 84 is still unbeaten.

He was a magnificent player, the epitome of the number 10. Vision, passing, playmaking, goal scoring (especially from his position and considering how defensive the Seria A was back then) but Diego simply edged it when it came to dribbling and simply magic on the pitch.
 
Gehrman said:
You can say Messi failed to have his iconic WC in his peak years, but great managers, pundits and players were already discussing whether Messi was the greatest ever in 2010-2011. And then he followed that with scoring 93 in a calendar year as a false nr. 9 with orgasmic dribbling and passing. Messi's "average" seasons were in general far better than most great players best seasons.
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Goals scored is a tricky thing. Cantona and Shearer discussed it not long ago. The defenders were allowed to do things that would get them banned today. It was a lot harder to score back then...
 
Messi
Pele
Maradona

Cristiano probably somewhere between 6th and 8th.
 
doubleohseven said:
Full games about twenty. Plenty of highlights. Some I can't get back. Many of his matches were not televised. To hold that against his record is churlish, mind.

Pele was Brazil's playmaker, certainly in 1970, and inspired team-mates accordingly.
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I'm not holding it against him necessarily I was genuinely interested in how many games you've watched as I haven't seen anything of Pele beyond brief highlights. I suspect most people are in the same boat.
 
Zico1982 said:
Goals scored is a tricky thing. Cantona and Shearer discussed it not long ago. The defenders were allowed to do things that would get them banned today. It was a lot harder to score back then...
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In some ways. But in other ways it was easier because defenders and tactics weren’t as good.

I don’t want individual examples as a counter argument either, I’m talking about the average defender.
 
Righteous Steps said:
Pele
Messi
Maradona
Ronaldo
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This would be my ranking as well. It's very close between Pele and Messi but I think Pele was more complete and also successful at international level much, much earlier.

Ronaldo is definitely fourth, his natural ability is nowhere near the other 3.
 
stevoc said:
I'm not holding it against him necessarily I was genuinely interested in how many games you've watched as I haven't seen anything of Pele beyond brief highlights. I suspect most people are in the same boat.
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There is a website called Footballia which had about 30-40 of his matches, including all the WC games from 62 and 70, and the semi final and final from 1958. I've watched all of them. He does at least 2 or 3 amazing things that you have to rewind in every game, and the mad thing is, the amazing things are all different. I don't think there's ever been an attacking player in football who could hurt you in so many ways.
 
Kwabs said:
There is a website called Footballia which had about 30-40 of his matches, including all the WC games from 62 and 70, and the semi final and final from 1958. I've watched all of them. He does at least 2 or 3 amazing things that you have to rewind in every game, and the mad thing is, the amazing things are all different. I don't think there's ever been an attacking player in football who could hurt you in so many ways.
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Yes. R9 Fenomeno was a Pelé reincarnation but not good as the original. This is how good was Pelé. Also, people forget that Messi and Ronaldo played in era if the juggernaut clubs who built entire squad worth hundreds of millions around them. They never played in ordinary top flight teams like Pelé and Maradona did.

Pelé&Maradona. GOAT. Can’t choose one over another.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Messi


Ronaldo
Pele

Comparing these generations of football is silly though. If you put prime Ronaldo in Pele's era he would score 150 goals a season. But if you put Pele in an era with modern training and medical science as as a 15 year old this may be a different discussion.

Messi is the greatest footballer to ever live.
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If you put Ronaldo in Pele's era he would have ended every game in tears
 
ThinkTank@Cafe said:
Yes. R9 Fenomeno was a Pelé reincarnation but not good as the original. This is how good was Pelé. Also, people forget that Messi and Ronaldo played in era if the juggernaut clubs who built entire squad worth hundreds of millions around them. They never played in ordinary top flight teams like Pelé and Maradona did.

Pelé&Maradona. GOAT. Can’t choose one over another.
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For a long time I thought Maradona was the best player I'd seen, then I watched Pele and thought he was the best. But it was retrospective viewing (with Pele, I was around for Maradona), so even though I learnt a lot, it wasn't as good as being there, unfortunately.
Then Messi came along and further complicated everything. Those 3 are definitely the best IMO. CR7 deserves respect for his achievements and longevity, but he doesn't really belong in the discussion if you are looking critically at the genius level of these guys.
 
Zico1982 said:
Goals scored is a tricky thing. Cantona and Shearer discussed it not long ago. The defenders were allowed to do things that would get them banned today. It was a lot harder to score back then...
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Its an obscene amount of goals anyway. And Messi wasnt even a striker when he was most prolific. Messi is still one the most fouled players of his era because dribblers are the most fouled. It never stopped him from getting back up again an scoring a brace vs peak Real Madrid.

Following this logic though, Gerd Müller scored an insane amount, Pelé did, Romario did, Eusebio did, Cryuff at Ajax, Denis law, Puskas, Di Stefano etc. It didnt seem to stop them.
 
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Nicolarra90 said:
If you put Ronaldo in Pele's era he would have ended every game in tears
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Anyone putting CR7 above Pelé or Maradona is either a MU fan or Portugese.

Or has very little knowledge and understanding of the game.
 
That_Bloke said:
They battled it out until the WC 86. After that, there was no debate anymore.

France 1982, 1984 and 1986 belong to the greatest teams to ever participate in an international tournament and Platini was at their heart. His 9 goals record at the Euro 84 is still unbeaten.

He was a magnificent player, the epitome of the number 10. Vision, passing, playmaking, goal scoring (especially from his position and considering how defensive the Seria A was back then) but Diego simply edged it when it came to dribbling and simply magic on the pitch.
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What do you expect? Platini was 31 in 1986, Maradona was only 26. Them 3 years between 1983 and 1986 Platini was untouchable. The only reason Maradona became the best player in the world is because Platini got old and had retired in 1987.

Of course there is no debate once Platini got old and retired.
 
Maradona in first spot for me, then the other three in any order.

Always going to be a subjective thing. My reasoning’s simple, grew up in an era when Maradona was larger than life and I was hopelessly impressionable at that age. You couldn’t see him play whenever you felt like it, so you craved every opportunity and, never mind performance, just seeing him felt exhilarating.

May well have been nuts in later life, but he’ll always be the first footballer to have me utterly mesmerised. That puts him at #1 on my list.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
What do you expect? Platini was 31 in 1986, Maradona was only 26. Them 3 years between 1983 and 1986 Platini was untouchable. The only reason Maradona became the best player in the world is because Platini got old and had retired in 1987.

Of course there is no debate once Platini got old and retired.
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There wouldn't have been any debate, even if Platini didn't retire.

Platini was playing for Juventus which was arguably the best italian club at the time and that's not taking away any of his greatness and achievements. I'll always put him above Zidane as the greatest French player of all time. Maradona had a horrid time plagued by illness/injuries at Barca, and when he joined Napoli in 1984, they were nowhere near to competing for the title. He still had to justify the hype about him while Platini already was an established player and a two times Ballon d'Or winner.

Platini's main reasons for retiring was a recurring groin injury and overall lack of motivation. What happened at the Heysel stadium also mentally scarred him. 31 isn't that old and he was far from being past it, especially for a player like him who never relied on his physical abilities, even if Maradona obviously had time on his side.

Maradona pulled off the greatest individual performance in the most prestigious tournament of football back then (I can only think of Garrincha in the 62' WC as a contender) and finally took off. From there on, he literally was on another planet and not even a fit, younger Platini would've been able to compete.

You can't seriously boil Maradona's success solely down to Platini retiring.
 
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