Germany legend, Lothar Matthaus, has snubbed Paris Saint-Germain's Lionel Messi and Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo and named Brazil legend, Pele, as the world's greatest football player of all time.
Matthaus believes Pele is the greatest player of all time because he won three World Cup trophies during his playing days, while Messi, Ronaldo are yet to win it.
Recall that Messi recently won his seventh Ballon d'Or award, while Ronaldo has already won the individual prize five times.
"It's a difficult question because football has changed a lot over the years. How can we compare someone like Pele, who was playing 40-50 years ago, to the ones who play today? Maybe Messi, in the last 10-15 years, has been the best. In my time, Diego Maradona was the best. There were others like Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Gary Lineker, maybe even myself.
"Before my time, Pele was the best. We've had so many great players over the years, Ronaldo played very well and now there's Robert Lewandowski. There were others like Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff, Eusebio - so many great players.
"I've named a lot of players and each of them has made football interesting over the years. When we speak purely based on numbers, Pele won the World Cup three times! Messi has never won the World Cup, while Maradona has won it once. This means when you take numbers into your mind and say just one name - I have to say Pele," Matthaus told Sportskeeda.
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