It is sad that the debate of who is greater between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has been taken to a ridiculous level after the Argentine led his compatriots to win the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Diehard fans of Messi are now suggesting that he is even greater than Edson Arantes do Nascimento aka Pele. I have deliberately avoided this debate eversince it broke out but close friends and colleagues kept asking my opinion even as they know I don’t want to come into the debate.
Those rooting for Messi argue that since they didn’t see or watch Pele live and since the World Cup in Pele’s era was not as elaborate and technically expanded as it is at the moment, it is or would be wrong to see the Brazilian as the greatest of all time.
They equally argue that the number of teams or countries participating in the World Cup during Pele’s era were few more so, football has not evolved so technically it tactically as it is today with hundreds of rules and innovations like VAR among others.
Be that as it may, we must all appreciate that no two eras are the same in a sport or sector that has been modernized so grossly thus attracting all the money splashed into the sport and especially the World Cup.
In the line of this argument, we must also appreciate that during Pele’s era science and technology particularly in the area of medicine haven’t discovered simple ways of treating injuries and carrying out surgeries. In other words, in that era a lot of players had been injured and their careers cut short.
You may argue that Pele was lucky but playing between the time he featured in his first World Cup in 1958 and when he quit after 1970 World Cup triumph indicates that he was not just lucky but very rugged, tough and strong to survive the hard tackles of vicious defenders of his era. Note that Pele didn’t end his career after 1970 World Cup.
Perhaps we may have to investigate how many times both footballers (Pele and Messi) had career threatening injuries and how long they were laid off the sport. Take it or leave it, Messi was fortunate to emerge at a time science, medicine and discoveries are in advance stages. Where researchers, medical practitioners, scholars, doctors and surgeons have gone deeper in the study of new and simpler solutions in medicine.
Many who opine that Messi is the greatest forget that Pele won his first World Cup at 17 unlike Messi who won his only World Cup at age 34. The mere fact that Messi won’t win three World Cups is enough reason why Pele deserves some respect from those involved in this debate.
For those citing Messi goals, dribbles, individual brilliance and leadership roles, I dare ask what has the Argentine done with the ball that Pele hadn’t? What are the goals records of both players? Perhaps if more games were played by ways of tight fixture schedule of this era, Pele would have scored more than he did.
It is a disservice to football and an injustice to the history of football for anyone to declare Messi as greater than Pele just because he or she or they were privileged to watch Qatar 2022 World Cup. The same people would have had a change of mind if they saw Pele live in his active days.
Pele is 85 and Messi is 34. Let’s pray for longevity of life for us all including both players. MESSI may need to take a tutorial on how to live healthily when he quits. True, it is God that decides how long a man lives here on Earth but self discipline would help that manifest greatly.
Pele has maintained a good lifestyle after retiring years ago. We hope and pray Messi does same. Comparing a great grand father to or with his great grand son with emphasis on who is better when two World Cups clearly separate them is a sneeze at football.
Tomorrow some people will wake from their sleep and tell us that Lennox Lewis or Tyson Fury is the greatest boxer ever….and not Muhammed Ali. We won’t be surprised to equally hear that LeBron James is the greatest basketball player ever.
This insult on Pele by way of comparing him with Messi and declaring the Argentine as Greatest of All Times should stop.
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