Celebrated Ghanaian sports broadcaster Kwabena Yeboah has named Edson Arantes do Nascimento known widely as Pele as the greatest footballer ever lived.
According to him though Pele may not be as talented as Messi and Maradona, his achievement as a three-time World Cup winner places him above anyone as the greatest footballer ever.
“People who saw Pele says there is no one like him. Personally, I will not hesitate to pick Pele over anyone as the greatest footballer ever”.
Kwabena Yeboah was discussing the death of the ‘football god’ Diego Maradona with Accra-based Hot FM.
The legendary broadcaster said that it will be an understatement to describe Maradona as a genius.
To him, Maradona epitomized who a ‘god of football’ is. He is in awe of the talent of the great Argentine whom he labels as “mystical and incredible”.
“We can remember Maradona for so many things. He is someone who goes beyond genius. He is a football god. It’s unbelievable that the world has lost a great man like Maradona. We will remember him for the splendour and razzmatazz he brought to our homes. He had his issues but we will remember him for what he did on the field”.
“The world has lost an extraordinary person and I don’t think he can be replaced. He was very short and for a man who is short, he defied football logic. We will remember him for the great things he did. He won trophies everywhere he went. He was mystical, absolutely incredible”.
Kwabena Yeboah stated that when it comes to the gift of playing football none of the two aforementioned greats is on the same level as Lionel Messi however Messi’s inability to win the World Cup will always undo him in discussing the greatest footballer of all-time.
The three players are his top three greatest of all-time and as much as he would love to name Messi as the greatest, he believes the records favor Pele more than the two Argentines.
“In terms of raw talent, Messi defies logic sometimes. Messi is God’s gift to the footballing world. But with all the statistics, the fact that he has not won the World Cup before is a major minus. But if you talk about statistics, no one comes close to Messi”.
“The fact that Pele at the age of 17 pounced on the footballing world and won the World Cup makes it difficult for anyone to sidestep Pele and give it to another person. The biggest minus for Messi is that he’s not won the World Cup which is the ultimate glory”.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
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