World best footballer: Pires names player better than Ronaldo, others

Arsenal legend, Robert Pires, said that Lionel Messi has the edge over Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane.
Brazilian football legend, Pele, had last week sensationally slammed Messi, describing him as one-footed player who could not head the ball.

Pele had said, “How can you make a comparison between a guy who heads the ball well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right… and another who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill, doesn’t head the ball well?”
But Pires, who played nearly 200 games for Arsenal, refuted Pele’s bold claims.

Speaking about the game against Espanyol last weekend, where Messi scored two free kicks, Pires hailed his performance as ‘incredible’.

“If he plays like he did against Espanyol, it is impossible to stop him,” Pires told Mundo Deportivo.

“It was incredible.

“I have played with [Zinedine] Zidane, Henry and [Juan Roman] Riquelme, and against Ronaldinho and Cristiano [Ronaldo], but Messi has something that nobody else has.

“I don’t know if he is the best in history, but there are few where he is.”