Argentina football legend Diego Maradona has said that his Brazilian counterpart Pele is stupid for comparing Lionel Messi with Brazilian sensation Neymar.
Neymar has been linked with a move to some of the best clubs across the world in the summer transfer window. This has led to Pele saying that Neymar could one day win the FIFA World Player of the Year award.
However, Maradona has said that Neymar cannot be compared with Lionel Messi because the latter is miles ahead of the Brazilian player. Lionel Messi, who is only 24 years old, has already won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award three times in succession. And according to the latest Betfair football betting, Messi is odds-on to win it a fourth time this season.
He has won 13 trophies out of a maximum possible 16 trophies with Barcelona in the last three years alone, while he has scored 16 goals in all competitions for Barcelona this season. This has led to Maradona believing the fact that Lionel Messi is light years ahead of Neymar, who has won the Champions League equivalent in South America with his club Santos.
Pele used to play for Santos and he has been a major contributing factor in helping Brazilian football retain the services of Neymar. He persuaded Neymar to reject advances from Chelsea a few seasons ago.
"Now everyone is talking about Messi; he is a star. But [to be the best ever] he must first become better than Neymar. At the moment Messi is just more experienced," Pele told the Betfair Betting website.
In response to these comments from the Brazilian football legend, Maradona said that Pele was just stupid to make such comments. "My God, that is just stupid. Maybe Neymar is the best player in the world, but only if you say that Messi is from a different planet," said Maradona in response to the comments by Pele.
