Brazilian football idol Pele has restated his belief that Neymar is a better player than Barcelona star Lionel Messi, and argued that the Argentine must first overcome the young Santos star before he can challenge 'O Rei' as the greatest to ever play the game.

The three-time World Cup winner was speaking on Tuesday at a press conference marking Santos' centenary celebrations in April 2012.

Never shy about publicising the ability of Neymar to the press, the 71-year-old pushed the youngster ahead of Messi in his list of the world's current stars.

"Now everyone is talking about Messi, he is a star. But [to be the best ever] he must first become better than Neymar," he asserted.

"At the moment Messi is just more experienced."

The Brazilian also played down the public feud he has allegedly maintained with Diego Maradona, insisting that there is no bad blood between the two men.

"You [journalists] are always saying that I am Maradona's rival, but it is not true. I was never his rival, and he was a great attacking midfielder," the veteran explained.

Pele is on twitter now

I decided to tweet him this, no response yet tho

Hi @Pele i always wondered did you count the goals you scored on the set of "road to victory" to your overall count? Thanks.

he is right

Mr Nick09 wrote:

lol

he is the best football player of all time, gotta give him that.

but he is just like Xavi and Cruyff when it come to his stupid statements.

Both must become better than Ronnie to be the best.



.

Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

white_star wrote:Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

and you say pele is embarrassing himself...

Ganso wrote:

white_star wrote:Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

and you say pele is embarrassing himself...

He plays in Europe

Albiceleste wrote:

Ganso wrote:

white_star wrote:Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

and you say pele is embarrassing himself...

He plays in Europe

walcott is better than nerman,damn :vagi:

Ganso wrote:

white_star wrote:Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

and you say pele is embarrassing himself...

He plays in Europe and has 19 goals and 7 assists for a top team in Germany. Ya he is better then Neymar. Netmar might have the potential an ability to be the best or better then Lewandowski but has done squat so far. We will see when he comes to Europe, do you remember Robinho ? Was supposed to be the next pele and ...

Stop being biased with your santos players, they had a shot when they played barca an got embarrassed.

If Pele is trying to ruin his legacy by making insane comments (mainly aimed at Messi through Jealousy) then he's doing a great job.

He needs to stop...

Until messi does a reverse elastico chop in-game, he is not better than neymar.

He's an Internacional fan White Star.

white_star wrote:

Ganso wrote:

white_star wrote:Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

and you say pele is embarrassing himself...

He plays in Europe and has 19 goals and 7 assists for a top team in Germany. Ya he is better then Neymar. Netmar might have the potential an ability to be the best or better then Lewandowski but has done squat so far. We will see when he comes to Europe, do you remember Robinho ? Was supposed to be the next pele and ...

Stop being biased with your santos players, they had a shot when they played barca an got embarrassed.

summing it up

Every striker that plays in europe is better than Nerman
Every player who doesnt perform vs Barca is crap
Every player who is hyped will probably be average

Ganso wrote:

white_star wrote:Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

and you say pele is embarrassing himself...

Lewandowski is as good Mario Gomez, he's one of the best strikers in the world and by far Dortmund best player, heavily under-rated.

Is about time I bring him to the spotlight on this forum.

Ganso wrote:

:lol!:

messi > neymar>dortmund

he is better than Messi......at tweeting.

Ganso wrote:

white_star wrote:

Ganso wrote:

white_star wrote:Why does pele keep embarrassing himself with out of his ass comments? No one takes him seriously anymore what a waste of space. Lewandowski is better then Neymar, I am sorry but couple stepovers in Brazilian league does not compare to European top scorer and best player in the world.

and you say pele is embarrassing himself...

He plays in Europe and has 19 goals and 7 assists for a top team in Germany. Ya he is better then Neymar. Netmar might have the potential an ability to be the best or better then Lewandowski but has done squat so far. We will see when he comes to Europe, do you remember Robinho ? Was supposed to be the next pele and ...

Stop being biased with your santos players, they had a shot when they played barca an got embarrassed.

summing it up

Every striker that plays in europe is better than Nerman
Every player who doesnt perform vs Barca is crap
Every player who is hyped will probably be average

That's not what I said so

I gave examples you decided to be ignorant and I must say that no further discussions with you. Anybody with football knowledge will tell you Neymar is not proven. He has ability and potential I will give you that.