I thought that people stopped taking the likes of Pelé, Maradona etc. seriously ages ago. I mean their track records and schizophrenia speak for themselves. It's just hot air and background noise. I doubt that Leo even bothers to read the nonsense nor should he care. Pelé suffers from dementia (he even began criticizing his darling Neymar) while Maradona is on drugs once again. I refer to some of his recent interviews in Mexico. Sad stuff.
What is far more important is Messi "bouncing back" for club (CL) and country (Copa América) next year. This would be his best reply. Let his football do the talking once again.
He surely did the talking on the field. One of the better performances this season if not the best one so far. In particular the first half was amazing. How I missed this engaging, active and quick in thought (he is always delivering in that department) and action version of Messi. In particular having his most recent performance against Villarreal in mind. I think that he knew right away that such a mediocre performance (considering his usual standards) could not happen 2 games in a row. That's very positive. I want to see the energetic and hungry Messi whenever possible. If that requires Pelé, Maradona (with all due respect to both legends) or other dinosaurs to disrespect him in public on a monthly basis, I would very much welcome that.
I really hope that we will see this Messi in the remaining season. It's impossible for him to perform at such a high level (not human) in each game but if he could be as lively as he was this Saturday, regardless of whether he succeeds with his free kicks, dribbling, passing game etc., obviously this requires rotation, one cannot ask for more. I don't want to see an apathetic Messi in the CL this season in any knockout game.
Muller has 1461 to Peles 1281 with friendlies counted. Looking at offcial goals I would still put Pele at number 2 ahead of Romario and behind Bican.
This is a great list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_men's_footballers_with_500_or_more_goals
However for Messi and Ronaldo there are some goals I wouldnt really take not of. For Messi his Barcelona C, B and Argentina under 23 etc are included. They have Pele on 767 but I would him at 757 but taking out his Selection Sao Paulo and military goals which are counted as offical.
http://www.rsssf.com/players/prolific.html#pele
For Romario I would remove a number of goals as well which puts him below Pele
http://www.rsssf.com/players/prolific.html#romario
I dont have the pateience to go through them but you can look yourself.
Messi is bound to overtake Bican and the rest within 3-4 years. 5 at most and I would be shocked if he has not left all of them behind by 2022.
What makes his goalscoring incredible is the fact that 90% of his goals (Copa del Rey not included although this might be the best national cup in the world as well or at least in the top 2) have come in arguably the best national league in the world (the most succesfull historically in terms of European and international trophies won) and best perfomring result wise as well by all participating clubs (UEFA coefficient list) not only historically but especially during Messi's playing career so far land the best club competition (CL). In a era where football has never been as professional, where footballers on average have never been better, physically more fit, tactically more aware and in a era where football as a whole is more demanding, bigger, much more lucrative and more stressful than ever. More competition than ever before as well given the world's demographics. When Pelé was the "rei" there were 3 times fewer people on the planet thus a 3 times smaller talent pool to compete against.
With all due respect to the likes of Bican, who scored most of his goals in the 1930's, 1940's in Austrian and Czechoslovakian football, it makes no sense to compare. It's like comparing today's football with amateur football from 40-50 years ago. Likewise most of Pelé goals for Santos were scored in regional leagues that were even worse than they are in today's Brazil (and they are really bad).
But since those lists are all about statistics (mere numbers) Messi will no doubt help end such discussions by doing what he has been doing for 15 years. Scoring goals and so much more.
