Lionel Messi has surpassed Diego Maradona, Pele, and Johan Cruyff to become the best of all time, according to Patrick Kluivert.
The Argentine legend, who is poised to begin a new chapter in his club career with MLS side Inter Miami, has finally been given the opportunity to taste World Cup triumph in Qatar 2022. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was in brilliant form for his country at that tournament, adding a global title to his collection of domestic and European honours with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Kluivert, a former Blaugrana and Holland great, feels Messi can now claim to be football’s GOAT, with the mercurial South American outperforming everyone else in the game.
WHAT THEY SAID: Kluivert has told johnnybet.com: “With all due respect to Diego Maradona, Pele and Johan Cruyff, and to all the other legends of the game, what Messi has achieved makes him the greatest player ever. He’s won the World Cup, Copa America and I don’t even know how many Champions League trophies – he’s won all the trophies a footballer could ever want to win. And there’s the personal prizes he has won as well. I consider Messi as one of, if not the greatest ever.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Messi has won the Champions League on four occasions, and the Liga title was secured on 10 occasions during his time at Barcelona. A further two domestic titles were landed while on the books at Ligue 1 giants PSG, and he helped Argentina to a long-awaited Copa America triumph in 2021.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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WHAT NEXT? Messi has registered over 800 goals in his remarkable career for club and country, breaking countless records along the way, and will be hoping to maintain seemingly unworldly standards when making his way to the United States as a free agent this summer.
