A Quote by Boris Becker

It's not that difficult to play well and win titles in a team like Barcelona, but it's in the national side where you see a player's true class. That was the case with figures like Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane. With Spain, Iniesta has shown that he is among the best players of all time and that's why I rate him higher than Messi or Ronaldo. Even though the latter two have incredible scoring records for their clubs, they still haven't won anything with Argentina or Portugal respectively.
Leo [Messi] is the best player of all time - better than Pele, Maradona or Cruyff. There have been some great teams in history - Pele's Brazil, Cruyff's Ajax, Sacchi's Milan - but in the past 20 years this Barcelona team is the best.
I think Cristiano and Lionel Messi are two of the best players in the history of the game. Are they better than Pele or Diego Maradona? They are at the top, but I think it is difficult in football to say who is first or second or third.
He is the best. The best in the world, yes. Probably the best ever. I saw Maradona a couple of times. I never saw Pele. But Cristiano is amazing. This man is the best... Cristiano is a goals machine. He is an incredible player. He is like Zidane, there will never be another Ronaldo.
The press often ask me about Messi and Ronaldo and who is the best, but one thing for me is very clear. For me, the No. 1 is Andres Iniesta, because he is my team-mate for Spain, and I can see that he is able to do even more difficult things on the pitch.
Maradona has done a lot for his clubs, as Messi does, and for the Argentina national team.
Critics have always questioned whether players like Pele from the 50s could play today. Lionel Messi could play in the 1950s and the present day, as could Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff because they are all great players. Lionel Messi without question fits into that category.
I had a poster of Iniesta. He seemed like a different player to me: elegant, special... a genius. I watched all the Barcelona games to see how they played and the geniuses, Iniesta and Messi. After, I tried to imitate them, but it was difficult.
Ronaldo could play for Millwall, QPR, Doncaster Rovers or anyone and he'd score a hat-trick. I'm not sure Messi could do it. Ronaldo's got two feet, he's quick, he's good in the air and he's brave, though Messi's brave too of course. I just think Messi is a Barcelona player.
I've been lucky enough to play for the Spanish national team and Barcelona, two sides who've shown that you can play good, attractive possession football and win major titles.
I have played against (Michel) Platini, (Diego) Maradona, (Johan) Cruyff and played with George Best — a lot of big names, but none of them has been able to do what Messi does. Two years ago I said that the best player I played against was Maradona and the best player I have played with was Bestie. But I can now say I have never seen a player as good as Messi. He’s in a league of his own.
Maradona is among the best five players I've ever seen: Garrincha, Pele, Diego, Cruijff and Beckenbauer.
The problem is that when Argentina doesn't play well - and the same is true of Barcelona - the press think it is easy to blame Messi. We have seen time and time again that he wins games on his own when the team is not performing - but the media expect him to always be the hero.
It was a great time in my career, playing for Barcelona with the best players in the world, in the best team in the world at that moment. It was amazing for me. I can always say to anyone that I played at Barcelona with Messi, with Xavi, with Iniesta, with Pedro, with Pique. And we won a lot of trophies.
Messi is undoubtedly a gifted footballer, like Maradona and Pele, and he's playing for the best club side in the world at the moment. He's successful and he's winning trophies, so it's only logical that he'll be voted the best player in the world.
Pele was the best of his era, Diego Maradona was the Pele of the Eighties, and Ronaldinho is the Pele of our time.
Of course you have Messi and Ronaldo. And then you've got a lot of players who are very close to each other and I think Gareth Bale is one of them, like at the level of the best teams in the world. He could play for every team in the world. For me he's a world class player.
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