Thought he was outstanding yesterday.
The best football player I’ve seen. Ronaldo and Zidane were not as good as Messi. Zidane is nowhere near him really.
Genius footballer.
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I agree, his standing hasn’t or at least shouldn’t change with winning the World Cup. We already knew how great he was and I find it annoying that his fans and the media have now anointed him as the greatest ever as if the world cup was the missing piece. It wasn’t, not unless you think that these 4 weeks determine the value of his 17 year career at the highest level. This win completes an almost perfect career for Messi but having won more doesn’t necessarily make him better than his peers.
For me, the feeling that you get from watching a great player, that mesmerizing sensation of awe and incredulity comes first in all time ranking. And Messi has provided that to the masses in spades. His on pitch genius and artisty place him in the top tier. He is a football savant, no doubt about it. Personally though, I still think that Pele is above all, as he is by all accounts the most complete and perfect player still to play the game. And I still haven’t got over the phenomenon that was the Brazilian Ronaldo before his injuries. The guy combined Messi’s technique with Mbappe’s alien pace and strength and then some.
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Frankly, having pretty much only watched him when he’s played in prior World Cups (and even then not a lot) or against Liverpool, I think he’s overrated.
But I also have very little interest in football outside of Liverpool, so that might explain it a fair bit.
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Great footballer. Wanker? Dunno. Compare him to others who party it up and get multiple women pregnant or are accused of sexual assault or who preen ridiculously on social media. I think Leo, for all the fame, lives a pretty good life.
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I think that the GOAT discussion is void to be honest. You can’t compare Messi, with say, Garrincha, Pelé, Di Stefano or Puskas. You can’t even compare him with Cruyff, Zidane or Maradona. So it all goes down to personal preference, and of course, the latest great player will get the most votes because people are under a recent impression he has made on them. The oldest ones are merely names and figures. No-one among us has ever seen them play live.
For me, a more valid race is the one of Best Player of one’s generation. In that one, Messi has done it and left Ronaldo behind him now. The world cup win will remain what separates them in the end.
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To be fair, when the principle rejection of his claim had been that, unlike Maradona, he’d never won a world cup, the response is an understandable one. I dont like the argument, but I didnt like the argument it is countering that was so prominent before this tournament either.
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Its too clean an argument to compartmetalise times players played in. We cannot compare Messi with Pele etc. Like you cannot compare Bjorn Borg with Nadal etc.
I think we can, on an individual basis.
Would Messi be even in the argument if Maradona was here today, with all the training, nutrition stuff the contemporary footballer has at their disposal?
Maradona is the best footballer of all times, there is no one near him.
Pele, Cruyff, Zidane, Platini are all the in the next bracket, and Messi fits in there, World Cup or not. Both Ronaldo’s are there as well.
But Maradona is above them all, super footballer.
What about George Best?
Never won a World Cup, so cannot be considered in the best of his generation debate?
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He deserves to be in the discussion, for sure.
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Who knows at this point…
No you’re right he hasn’t assaulted any women. He just has, on multiple occasions, taken extreme amounts of money to act as the public front to regimes that treat women as second class citizens.
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Of the players i have watched in my lifetime (I’m 40), if i had to pick one player to play in a game with my life on the line, i think I’d pick the original Ronaldo. Zidane is miles away from that list. Messi might be 2nd.
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We can make theories in both ways.
Would some players of today be able to be replicate that in past times?
Would some players of the past be able to replicate that in modern times?
Every era has it’s “difficulties”, in different ways.
The sport itself was tougher(?) in the past. These days the attention is off the scale, you need to be much, much more professional to get and stay at the top.
I’d say with really the best of best, it’s not difficult for me to imagine that they would still be up there, regardless in which era.
If not, then it would have to do something with a life circumstance or something out of the ordinary really blocking their evolution and progress. Balague spoke recently how Messi was so close to actually being born in Australia. And then who knows how his career would’ve gone. Maybe still be a quality player, but perhaps not this big.
For me, in my following (since 2000 in my case), Messi has the most arguments to be the best I’ve seen.
Without overthinking, underrating/overrating, complicating, trying to be too clever, trying to shock, going on pure romantism, some other players which I really liked, but just plain simple and as objective as possible.
His quality and consistency, style which makes him dangerous from most (if not all) phases of the game made or still makes him the best I’ve seen.
He’s the best when it comes to the most basic stuff in football. Accuracy and frequency of his touches when leading the ball, little changes of direction, knowing where he’s going and how to share the action with other players, but then also be an outstanding protagonist in a goalscoring way, adding things to his game with time (free kicks). The list could go on.
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You might have other players that are more complete, doesn’t mean they’re better than some other more incomplete ones.
Ronaldinho was the best entertainer I’ve seen. You have entertainers who are not as good, but he bloody managed to be one of the best of his generation AND being able to do stuff that were some freestyle shit. Scared opponents for not a long, but a sweet while and smiled all the time.
Does that mean Messi isn’t as skilfull? No. Maybe he can’t do literally everything Ronaldinho could do, but maybe in the most of times he was looking to be the most effective he can.
Great player no doubt but a bit of wanker also like many footballers. 
He’s the GOAT never to have played in the World Cup.
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Wrong.
How many Champions Leagues did Best win, huh?
George Weah has a shout at being the best never to play in the WC.
Sami Hyypia is probably the best defender to never do it, also.