Pelé made another harsh statement against Messi on Tuesday, claiming that the Argentine soccer star must first overcome Neymar to be the best.
Lionel Messi, 24, had been considered one of the best soccer players in the world at the moment, but the Brazilian soccer legend had not been keen to the soccer genius from Argentina.
"Now everyone is talking about Messi, he is a star. But for Messi to be the best ever, he must first become better than Neymar," said Pelé at a press conference celebrating Neymar's club Santos.
"At the moment Messi is just more experienced," Pelé added.
In 2009, Messi won both the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon d'Or, which were awards given to the best soccer player. Since 2010, the two awards have been combined into one, and Messi has won the FIFA Ballon d'Or for the two consecutive years. On April 7, 2012, Messi scored his 60th goal in a single season, surpassing Gerd Müller's record in 1972-73.
Even Diego Maradona, one of the greatest soccer players in the history, considered his countryman Messi to be his successor. Maradona had been considered to be Pelé's rival for a long time, but Pelé himself disapproved such relations.
"You are always saying that I am Maradona's rival, but it is not true. I was never his rival, and he was a great attacking midfielder," said Pelé.
But Pelé wants a "Brazilian as the best player in the world", according to Cardenas of the Bleacher Report.
It is not the first time for Pelé to support a Brazilian player over others. For instance in 2009, Pelé said he preferred Kaka over Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney.
But in 2009, Kaka could have considered the top player. Comparing the 20-year-old Neymar to Messi seems farfetched at the moment.
"Nothing against Neymar; he's an incredible player. But with everything that Leo does on the pitch-all the records he has broken, all the titles he's helped Barcelona win; all at the age of 24-Lionel Messi is obviously the best player in the world. How can Pelé not see that?" exclaimed Cardenas.
Neymar scored over 100 goals for his Brazilian club Santos already, but he did not yet have a chance to prove himself in the world-class stage yet.
Could Neymar, being four years younger than Messi, become the best player in the world? Or could it be another one of Pelé's many predictions that went wrong?
The Brazilian legendary soccer player is also notorious for making predictions that went completely wrong, to the point that made Romario to say "Pelé is a poet when he keeps his mouth shut."
