Lionel Messi vs Neymar?

There shouldn't even be a topic about this yet!

Lionel Messi is three times World Player of the Year. He's won every honour at club level more than once. He may be selfish and scores goals himself but he's also got a good amount of assists to his name and his overall play is simply outstanding. I remember watching a video where he even helped Barcelona defend. He doesn't do all those sliding tackles and all but he knows how to win the ball and I was surprised by that.

And in my opinion, Ronaldo is good but he's nowhere near Messi's level. Everyone keeps saying how Messi can't be considered the best because he hasn't won a World Cup or doesn't play well for his country, well, guess what? Ronaldo is shit for Portugal. Rooney is shit for England and most players in general don't perform as well for country as they do for their clubs. If you want one player who did that recently? Luis Suarez - he took the Premier League by storm in his first season and he was MVP in the Copa America which Uruguay won.

One huge difference between Ronaldo and Messi is, Messi turns up when it matters. I've seen him play against Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United and apart from Chelsea (where he was like 17 years old), he was easily one of the better players in those gamess. Ronaldo on the other hand, doesn't turn up against the big sides. I know there was a season he scored against Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal but all he did was score and nothing else. Didn't do anything.

As for Neymar, it's still too early to compare him to Messi. He's young, vastly talented, full of potential and he's got style but he's got a long way to go before he can be spoken in the same breath as Messi or even Ronaldo for that matter. Maybe when he joins a European club, everyone will start looking at him more seriously but as of now, Lionel Messi, IMO, is the greatest player I've ever seen as a football fan. But who knows, maybe in 5 years time, there will be a kid named Ah Chong who will look like he can be better than anyone.

Furthermore, I know some of you may disagree but Lionel Messi never cheats. Maybe there are a few occassions where he has gone down very easily or pretends but all in all, whenever he gets kicked, shoved, pushed, tackled, punched, elbowed or whatever, he doesn't show his sulky face and whine. He just gets up and runs at you again, then he'll leave your jaw hanging moments later.

I know it kinda makes sense that he can only be considered the best if he plays well in Premier League but I think that is a tad unfair. If you want someone who scores goals in every league, then you might as well say Ruud Van Nistelrooy is the best player in the world because he can score in the Dutch Eredivisie, German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga and English Premier League.

Pele can't say Messi isn't the best also because he hasn't won the World Cup nor has he scored 1000 goals because football back then was alot different in terms of player strength, fitness and all that. Players now are now much more physically fit, more stamina, stronger and faster.

If a player scores 10 penalties and 20 tap ins from 3 yards, would you say he is the one of the best players in the world? No.
If it all about goals, then Demba Ba, Antonia Di Natale, Mario Gomez and Olivier Giroud should be mention in the same breath but they aren't.

Goals do not reflect the performance of player in other areas of the pitch. I've seen Ronaldo play for United and no doubt he's a great player but he hardly turned up (if he ever did) against the big sides but manages to get on the score sheet.

Xavi Hernandez doesn't score alot but does that make him not considered one of the best?

Read the post again.

I said people cannot say Messi (or Ronaldo) shouldn't be considered as one of the best players in the world simply because they DID NOT win the World Cup or any international tournaments.

I brought Luis Suarez into the topic because if people are only going to base "best players" as players who play well for club and country, then Suarez is one of them having won the Copa America for Uruguay and bringing them into the 2010 World Cup semi-finals while playing well for his club.

This post has been edited by Adryan: Feb 10 2012, 07:14 PM

Fair enough but perhaps did better than most would in their first few weeks in England.

Not many people fit into the Premiership straightaway but yeah, you get my drift.

Yeah, that's why I said "NOT MANY people fit ..." because obviously Suarez isn't the only one.