Originally Posted by
Goat Milk
zidane really good, as were Pele and Maradona. Tough to compare because guys like Messi took a lot from zidane and pele and maradona. If you watch just from a pure skill perspective, it's Messi and isn't close. Maradona himself would admit that. The ball appears glued to his foot.
Zidane too is probably not even as good as Christiano Ronaldo from a pure skill perspective. Ronaldo is in another class than him, although Zidane is definitely one of the most skillful midfielders ever. Ronaldo is just a different breed of player. Not many ever in the history with his combination of skill and athleticism. Probably has never been a more fit player in the world, ever, than Christiano Ronaldo. Prolly like 5% body fat.
But the thing is, Zidane, Pele, Ronaldo, Maradona, these guys all have better resumes than Messi and Ronaldo. Sure, Ronaldo and Messi kill them in club play. And Messi and Ronaldo have more MVPs (Ballon's (world player of the year awards -- with Messi having the record for them I believe)) But they don't have the World Cups. This is tough, because you can only have citizens play for the national team. Obviously France and Brazil have produced some elite talent for decades, and Argentina was great in Maradonas day with world-class players everywhere. Argentina since has taken a few steps back, and it was a miracle for them to make the finals in the last World Cup, with Messi drawing so much attention (Loew said he had 3 guys focused only on Messi for 120 minutes...) that they almost won since everyone else either had 1 on 1 coverage or was left open (Aguerro, Higuine, etc).
Kinda tough, but I'm gonna have to go with Messi. The man is still only 30 years old, and he can arguably play in 2 more World Cups if he wants.