Apart from the odd highlight I have never seen Pele but his longevity and stats tells an amazing story. My first footballing memory was the hand of god so I absolutely hated Maradona but when you looked at his career and how he pretty much carried a poor Argentina and a lowly ranked (although I believe I have read somewhere Mafia assisted) Napoli side. When you think what these 2 did while having no protection with a lot of what they had to deal with would these days be considered GBH never mind red cards, Having to deal with crap pitches and not having the sports science we have now you would have to think they would be on another planet if they were playing in this age.
When comparing Messi and Ronaldo first thing to say is how amazing it is to have two players at this level at the same time, Messi is the more natural footballer. Ronaldo is a physical monster who isn't short of natural skill but not on the level of Messi. I think its a bit unfair on Ronaldo to say the world cup ends the conversation between them as Messi hasn't always been great at these tournaments and he has had better players around him at Argentina.
Football is / should be a team game. Only going on highlights and stories I think if you were a top player and you had the choice of playing with peak Pele or peak Maradona I think most would say Pele. I think most players were given the choice of playing with Peak Ronaldo or Peak Messi I think they would choose Messi.
So my uneducated opinion I would say it would be the following:
1) Pele (despite never seeing him play but making lots of assumptions)
2) Maradona (Despite Hand of God or is it hand of god that stopped me putting him first?)
3) Messi
4) Ronaldo
Surprised no one has mentioned Figo yet who I would say is in the group of players just below these 4 amongst others that have been mentioned.
Hoddle will always be the best in my heart so was difficult not to put him first (head overruled heart).
When comparing Messi and Ronaldo first thing to say is how amazing it is to have two players at this level at the same time, Messi is the more natural footballer. Ronaldo is a physical monster who isn't short of natural skill but not on the level of Messi. I think its a bit unfair on Ronaldo to say the world cup ends the conversation between them as Messi hasn't always been great at these tournaments and he has had better players around him at Argentina.
Football is / should be a team game. Only going on highlights and stories I think if you were a top player and you had the choice of playing with peak Pele or peak Maradona I think most would say Pele. I think most players were given the choice of playing with Peak Ronaldo or Peak Messi I think they would choose Messi.
So my uneducated opinion I would say it would be the following:
1) Pele (despite never seeing him play but making lots of assumptions)
2) Maradona (Despite Hand of God or is it hand of god that stopped me putting him first?)
3) Messi
4) Ronaldo
Surprised no one has mentioned Figo yet who I would say is in the group of players just below these 4 amongst others that have been mentioned.
Hoddle will always be the best in my heart so was difficult not to put him first (head overruled heart).