Is Mbappe at the level of prime Messi/Ronaldo?

Marvanelli said:
Please can we not put Ronaldo in the same bracket as Messi.

One has stat padded his whole career, and the other one has taken his country to glory in both major competitions...whilst setting records that will unlikely be broken.
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He is in the same bracket, only personal feelings towards him would ever change that.
 
asredastheycome said:
We will have to differ on that but you are wrong. (y)
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I think its pointless comparing them. For a start, most of us didn't see much of Pele, but secondly, even those of you who were around can't have watched him play many times (even on telly).

Anyone under the age of about 75, who didn't grow up in Sao Paulo, is basing this almost entirely on his performance at the 1970 World Cup (6 matches). Which, of course, was amazing and a very strong argument for him being the GOAT, alongside 1958, but come on, how many people on here watched all the 1958 matches? Most of you wouldn't have even had a telly, and hardly any matches were broadcast live.

 
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atypical_boro said:
I think its pointless comparing them. For a start, most of us didn't see much of Pele, but secondly, even those of you who were around can't have watched him play many times (even on telly).

Anyone under the age of about 75, who didn't grow up in Sao Paulo, is basing this almost entirely on his performance at the 1970 World Cup (6 matches). Which, of course, was amazing and a very strong argument for him being the GOAT, alongside 1958, but come on, how many people on here watched all the 1958 matches? Most of you wouldn't have even had a telly, and hardly any matches were broadcast live.

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Its all about age. Those who are probably 60+ will say Pele was the greatest player ever, those 45+ will probably say Maradona, those under that will say Messi or Ronaldo. And now people are questioning whether Mbappe should be at those levels.

What I will say about Pele is the guy played in 4 world cups and was a winner 3 times. That takes some beating.
 
Always been a firm believer that given the evolution in sports science in the last 20+ years, those from previous generations would look worse on average compared to modern footballers simply in terms of fitness.

Think that's particularly true of players whose game is based on pace.


Unless the historical discussion is changed to players being relative to their time (which is a fair distinction IMO).

But on a basic, is x player from 50 years ago better than Messi or Ronaldo, no chance for me.
 
asredastheycome said:
Its all about age. Those who are probably 60+ will say Pele was the greatest player ever, those 45+ will probably say Maradona, those under that will say Messi or Ronaldo. And now people are questioning whether Mbappe should be at those levels.

What I will say about Pele is the guy played in 4 world cups and was a winner 3 times. That takes some beating.
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It was only really 2 though. One of them he got injured early in the second match. Pretty clear that he was sensational in 1958 and 1970, but few could say they witnessed both in much detail.
 
For how technical the game is now. Plus, how tactically aware players and how teams setup. What Messi was able to do, year on year is absolutely insane. All the others achieved great things, but Messi has achieved all that and more.

I don't think we'll see another like him.
 
atypical_boro said:
I know he’s won the World Cup and scored a hat trick in another final. Runner up in the CL but yet to win it. Loads of Ligue 1 titles. No Ballon d’Or as yet.

I guess we’ll find out when he’s playing in La Liga.

But what do you think?
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Mbappe is great, but nowhere near their prime level (not many from the entire history of football are), even in their 30's both were better than Mbappe has ever been.

Mbappe has managed more than 40 goals three times in his career, but plays in a much lower level league, for a team which is miles and miles ahead of the rest. He's 25, heavily reliant on pace and has probably also had his peak. Once Mbappe loses a lot of that pace he's going to struggle, out wide or up front (compared to the greats), he doesn't have the aerial all round threat of Ronaldo or the vision, control and interplay of Messi.

Messi at his peak (it was a long peak too) got 73 goals in one season, in a harder league. Mbappe won't get within 20 goals of that, in Spain, maybe not even 30 goals of that.

Messi broke 40 goals, 10 seasons in a row.

Ronaldo's stats are similar to Messi's, he broke 40 goals 8 seasons in a row, and had one other for man utd.
 
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