Pele died at 82

[jarntt]

The original GOAT

 

[Tainthappening]

RIP... great player and great person.

Too young to appreciate his World Cup performances... I remember when I was very young all the news stories when he joined the New York Cosmos team, that was the first I heard of him. I was in early grade school at time and also just starting to play soccer.

 

[Sparhawk]

RIP Corporal Luis Fernandez

 

[catman]

I had the pleasure of seeing him play a few games in Minnesota in the 1970s. He didn't score any goals, but it was obvious that he was the best player on the field.
Rest in Peace, Sir.

 

[JoeyVimsanteThePoet]

Pele was a super football player, and seemed a nice guy also.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

RIP Pele

 

[Drasci]

Pelé was a great player, but the goat Is Maradona.

 

[StuUKWI]

Pelé was a great player, but the goat Is Maradona.

I agreed with this for a long time before I finally elevated Messi over Maradona on my list.

 

[redskinsfan1963]

cancer took another one.doubt they ever find a cure for it in my lifetime.

 

[Drasci]

I agreed with this for a long time before I finally elevated Messi over Maradona on my list.

matter of opinion, I personally don't even put Messi above Cristiano Ronaldo.
I believe that Messi has shown enormous limitations in his career, mainly mental and physical limitations.

I find that some of the Golden Balls he won are not legitimate (like the 2010 one) but he remains the great champion of the past era (along with CR7) and is certainly among the 10 strongest players in history.

But I respect your position, also because probably above a certain threshold you can't even make a ranking: Messi, Van Basten, Pelé, Crujiff, Maradona, Puskas (and there are others) are all people who
have been able to be the best ( for their time).
Difficult to compare them to each other (unless it all boils down to a trophy count).