Brazil legend Zico has said that Barcelona Star Lionel Messi can’t be compared to Diego Maradona or Pele because he has not won the World Cup.
Messi is widely regarded as one the best players in the world alongside rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
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But Messi has failed to win any international honors with the Argentina national team and got knocked out of 2018 World Cup in the last 16.
MySportDab report Argentina have struggled to win any trophy over the years, finishing second at the Copa America in 2015 and 2016 meaning Messi’s only international trophy is a gold medal from the 2008 Olympics.
And Zico believes that leaves Lionel Messi is trailing Pele and Maradona when it comes to considering who the greatest of all time is.
“Messi is close to Maradona,” Zico told Omnisport.
“That means, in my opinion, he can’t be compared to Pele.
“I still consider Maradona in front of Messi. With Pele, no.
“Pele has all the qualities and characteristic that a football player has to have.
“When God created him [Pele], he put every quality a footballer needs; speed, strength, impulse, technique, kicking ability, heading, dribbling – all of it, everything that a player might have.
“Few people could jump like him for a header. He is 170 centimetres tall.
“His foundations are perfect, [he had] mastery of the ball, [and mastery of] headers.
“He improved in every way. Everything you can imagine from a player, Pele has done it.
“[Messi has] almost everything, but he doesn’t have the World Cup titles that Pele has. This [means] a lot.
“Because, I think Maradona played, like in our period, with a player in his back all the time
“Maradona has done a lot for his clubs, as Messi does, and for the Argentina national team. Maradona was a world champion.”
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