Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola has hailed Lionel Messi as the greatest footballer of all time following his 2022 FIFA World Cup triumph.
Messi was instrumental in Argentina’s final win on Sunday, scoring two goals and his penalty in the shootout after the game finished 3-3 and went to extra time to earn his nation their first World Cup since Diego Maradona’s 1986 team achieved the same feat.
The World Cup was the one glaring omission on Messi’s resume prior to this winter’s tournament, with many seeing that lack of international success as the reason why Maradona and Pele were still the top one and two footballers of all time.
He said Messi has won 7 ballon dors with several individual cups that cannot be compared to any player. He said no player can break such records in football. He believed Messi can play in the 2026 world cup and still perform wonders.
He said Erlang Haaland and Vinícius Júnior are fantastic players alright, but none can break the records of Messi. He added that willing the world cup is a different thing altogether.
He concluded that Messi’s style of play can’t be studied by defenders, which makes him more dangerous at all times.
Since his World Cup victory, however, Messi, in many people’s eyes – including 90min‘s – has cemented his legacy as the best player of all time.
Speaking to the press ahead of Man City’s Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool on Thursday, Guardiola stated that he agrees that Messi is number one: “Everyone has an opinion, but nobody can doubt he’s there as the greatest of all time.
“For me, he’s the best, difficult to understand a player can compete with what he’s done. The people who saw Pele or Di Stefano or Maradona. The opinions are sentimental, but on the other side, if he hadn’t won the World Cup, the opinion and my opinion wouldn’t change.