Is it just me or are we all fed up with the egotistical, self indulged rumblings of the former Brazilian footballer, Pele. Pele, who has never shied away from a chance to promote himself, recently made headlines again, when at the conclusion of Barcelona's impressive Champions League triumph over Machester United at Wembley, clamied that despite Lionel Messi's heroics, he was a much better footballer in his prime than Messi. Messi 24, has now won three Champions League trophy's, five La Liga titles and two Fifa World Player of the year awards, yet Pele claims, to be better then him he must better his mark of 1280 goals. This is a joke, as most of these so called goals have been completely unaccounted for and not to mention scored in inferior leagues, during an inferior era.Firstly, what we need to understand here is the difference in era's. Sure, Pele was a great player in his day who stood out above others, although we need to put into context the era's in which they played to properly assess who is better. There is no arguing that the dawn of the professional sports age completely revolutionised the level of skill we now appreciate in many popular games like football. We can also not forget the role technology has since played in enhancing performance. During the fifties and sixties (when Pele came to prominance), players were less conditioned, most had jobs and in some cases did not even wear gloves when in goals. Not just Messi, but players like Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Ronaldinho have all been players who have won trophies, scored a tonne goals and most importantly stood above the rest in an era where all players are professional and have access to the modern technology and leading training methods. So would Pele's style of play be as dominant in this day and age, I highly doubt it.
Pele claims that his feat of winning multiple World Cups is something that will set him apart from Messi. Sure, Messi probably needs to lead his nation to World Cup glory similar to what Maradonna did in Mexico in 1986 to be considered the greatest, although there are many variables to this notion. Winning a World Cup is arguably the toughest thing to accompolish in sport, which often takes a lot more than individual brilliance. You need a strong well balanced team, stable coaching staff, good preparation and of course luck. When Pele won his World Cups there was a great division between Brazil and the rest of the world. Brazil were by far the best football playing nation during this time as proven by their domination during the 1970 World Cup where they defeated Italy 4-1 in the final (the largest winning margin in a World Cup final). Argentina have been far from a stable unit in recent years but at just 24, you would assume Messi might even get another three cracks at stamping his familiar mark on the tournament.
Pele played for two clubs throughout his entire career, that was Brazil's Santos and US outfit the New York Cosmos. Yes, Pele did score a mountain of goals for these two sides, however how great is this feat considering the standard of the leagues he was playing in? As is the case today, Europe was still the pinnacle of club football back in the fifties and sixties and never would we consider a player the greatest today if he did not make the transition to Europe, so why is Pele's situation any different?. While fellow greats like Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer were consistantly playing against the best the world had to offer in Europe, Pele never left the comforts of the inferior and less challenging Brazilian First Division. How can the greatest footballer the world has ever seen, be a player who never accpted the many offers to join European powerhouses like Real Madrid and Juventus and truly test himself week in week out? The answer in short is he can't.
Let us put Messi aside for a second and compare Pele to another great player who's prime was a little closer to Pele's era, Diego Maradonna. Now, Maradonna like Pele is a World Cup winner, however where they deviate is their achievements at club football. Following success at national level, Maradonna moved to Europe where he tested himself against the best defences the world had to offer. His spell at Italian club Napoli in the late eighties can only be described as brilliant, as he elevated the traditionally struggling club to their only league championships in 86-/87 and 89/90 as well as to victories in the Uefa and Italia Cups in 1989. These club accomplishments no doubt separate the two footballers, as one had the fortitude to test himself against the best whilst the other stayed true to familiar surroundings.
Pele is not the player he thinks he is and the quicker he stops his regular rants about how there will never be another player like him and his constant referencing to himself in the third person, the better off the game and his reputation will be.
