Brazilian football legend Pele has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi but insisted that he remains the greatest of all time.
The three-time World Cup winner, who holds Guinness World Record as top scorer of all time, doesn’t think that the Ballon D’or winners quite live up to his greatness.
And although many of his 1,281 recorded goals were scored in unofficial friendlies, the legendary former Santos man rightly remains at the forefront of any “greatest of all time” debate.
But on the current crop, Pele’s view is firm, as he told YouTube channel Pilhado: “Today the best player in the world is Cristiano Ronaldo.
“I think he’s the best, because he’s more consistent, but you can’t forget about [Lionel] Messi, of course, but he’s not a striker.”
Ronaldo has scored an astonishing 725 goals in 100 total games over the course of his glittering career.
But Messi, three years his junior, also boasts an amazing record, having bagged 697 goals in 856 games, despite, as Pele points out – not being a striker.
The 79-year-old continued: “It is a question that is difficult to answer. We cannot forget about Zico, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.
“And in Europe, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff.
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“Now, it’s not my fault, but I think Pele was better than them all.”
This article was most recently revised and updated 5 years ago
