Pele: I'm still the best footballer in the world

Pele thinks he is still the best footballer

Brazilian legend Pele believes that he if played he would still the best footballer in the world ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pele is considered to be the greatest player of all time scoring 77 goals in 92 appearances for Brazil and believed to have scored over a 638 goals during his 18-year domestic career at Brazilian club Santos helping them to 26 trophies. He has scored more than 1000 goals in his career.

Speaking days before the inauguration of the 2014 World Cup, the legend said, “If I played now, I’d have to be as physically fit as they are [today’s footballers], but I’d still be the best. The reason is that God would have given me that gift. It’s as if you were to ask Beethoven what type of music he’d compose in another era. Whatever music he did compose, he would do so with the same genius, but with other tools."

He was also keen to end the comparison between him and Argentinian greats Maradona and Di Stefano saying, “If we look through history, people have always compared me to Argentineans. First it was Di Stéfano which passed, followed by Sívori, who just about everyone’s forgotten about, then came Maradona, and now they’re starting with Messi. I’d like to suggest something: you guys decide on the greatest Argentinean. When you know that, then we’ll see who the best in the world is."

Pele also blamed Brazil’s current social turmoil over the World Cup on the corruption amongst it’s political leaders.