Pele claims he was better than Messi

B r a z i l i a n f o o t b a l l legend Pele has launched an astonishing attack on Barcelona star Lionel Messi by claiming he has just ‘one-skill’.

The three-time World Cup winner claimed he was the better player because he was a more complete performer than the Argentina forward.

Pele also added that Diego Maradona was a ‘ much better’ player than the fivetime Ballon D’Or winner as he addressed a wave of assessments of the current crop of the world’s best players.

“How can you make a comparison between a guy who heads the ball well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right and another who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill and doesn’t head the ball well?” Pele told Folha de Sao Paulo when asked about Messi.

“How can you compare? To compare with Pele, it has to be someone who shoots well with the left, shoots well with the right, and scores headers.”

He also dismissed any claims t hat t here are similarities between Messi and Maradona, who he believes is one of the greatest players of all time.

“As far as I’m concerned, Maradona was one of the best players ever. If you ask me, ‘ Was he better than Messi?’ Yes, he was. Much better. [Franz] Beckenbauer, [ Johan] Cruyff were also excellent players.”

On Neymar, he said,“I think Neymar is a more complete player than him, but in Europe everyone speaks more about Mbappe.” THE INDEPENDENT