Lionel Messi’s masterclass in the first leg of this season’s Champions League semi-final saw him firmly lauded as the greatest player in the world.
At the moment!
The way the little Barcelona maestro took Bayern Munich apart in the 3-0 victory was exhilarating and firmly pushed him ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the current ‘I am the greatest’ stakes.
However, is Messi the best ever?
Every era throws up a magnificent player and those of that era, quite rightly I suppose, reckon they have just witnessed the ‘best ever’.
Stanley Matthews, Ferenc Puskas, Pele, Johann Cruyff, Maradona, Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo — and others — can all lay claim to be the best of all in certain seasons and have been rewarded with the accolade of Fifa Player of the Year . . . or Ballon d’Or as is it now known.
European-based Brazilian players have dominated the award, winning eight out of 18 times.
The award’s youngest male winner was Ronaldo, who won at the age of 20 in 1996. He won it again in 1997 and 2002.
Regular readers over the 20-odd years of this column will know that my choice would always be Pele.
And it still is.
Pele had absolutely everything in his locker — including aerial ability — from being introduced to the first team of Santos at the tender age of 15 and the Brazilian national side a year on.
In addition to his club side Santos being successful in Brazilian domestic football, Pele also excelled internationally, which several of the aforementioned, including Messi so far, failed to do to any great level.
In 1999, the respected football magazine France Football asked their former Ballon d’Or winners to choose the Football Player of the Century.
They selected Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele).
The same year, he was elected Athlete of the Century by the IOC, and Time named him in their list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
In 2013, he received the Fifa Ballon d’Or Prix d’Honneur in recognition of his career and achievements as a global icon of football.
He won three Fifa World Cups — 1958, 1962 and 1970 — the only player ever to do so, and is the all-time leading goalscorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 games.
Pele’s electrifying play and penchant for spectacular goals made him a star around the world, and his club team Santos toured internationally in order to take full advantage of his popularity.
I also recall, in the early 60s, Santos playing a friendly in England against Sheffield Wednesday.
Santos turned it on that night and Pele’s run-up to take a penalty was described at the time as a bit of several dance routines, including the ‘Cha-Cha’.
Since retiring in 1977, Pele has been a worldwide ambassador for football and has undertaken various acting roles and commercial ventures.
In 2010, he was named the honorary president of the New York Cosmos.
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