“Pele, Maradona, and Cruyff”: Marco van Basten skips Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo from his list of football GOATs
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Former Ajax and AC Milan striker, Marco van Basten caused a stir after he said that Lionel Messi was not one of the 3 best footballers to ever play football. The Dutchman also left out Messi’s arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo but said that Ronaldo is up there with the rest.
After 7 Ballon D’ors, over 800 career goals and 36 trophies, Marco van Basten said Messi doesn’t have the personality to be in his top 3. The 3 times Ballon D’or winner went on to name Pele, Maradona and Johan Cryuff as the 3 best footballers in history.
Also Read: 5 of Cristiano Ronaldo’s highest jumps while scoring headers
Basten says people who think Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi know nothing about football
Speaking to France Football, as reported by MARCA, the Dutchman said, “Pele, [Diego] Maradona and [Johan] Cruyff are for me the three greatest players in history. As a kid I wanted to be like Cruyff. He was my friend. I miss him. Pele and Maradona were also incredible.”
“Messi is also a great player, but Maradona always had more personality in a team. Messi is not the one who puts himself at the front to go to war. I’m not forgetting Cristiano Ronaldo, [Michel] Platini or [Zinedine] Zidane.”
The Dutchman later also spoke about the Lionel Messi-Ronaldo debate. He said, “Cristiano is a great player, but those who say he is better than Messi know nothing about football, or they are saying it in bad faith.”
“Lionel Messi is one of a kind. Impossible to imitate and impossible to repeat. A player like him comes along every 50 or 100 years. As a kid, he fell into the football genius pot.”
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Shubham Mohta
(334 Articles Published)