Pepe: Messi not as good as Pele

Messi is not quite in Pele's league according to the former Santos man. 

Pepe told Goal: “Messi is an exceptional player. It's a joy turning on the television to see this lad playing, but I still believe Pele is at the very top,” 

“He had an advantage over Messi because of his physique; he scored from a lot of headers and and on plays that demanded much more strength.

“As great as Messi's individual qualities are, he couldn’t do things Pele could. At Santos, sometimes when we had a hard time scoring we just began crossing balls into the box, and Pele just soared above everybody else to score with a powerful header.

“You can't do that with Messi, but he is a brilliant player. I think he has surpassed the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano and others... but not Pele!”

“When he got to the World Cup [in Sweden], he was already a sensation,” Pepe explained.

“He had introduced himself a little time before, but he was known throughout Brazil already. After that, he went everywhere and he became the world's greatest player.

“He had done great things for Santos, and then confirmed everything in Sweden. He scored goals in every imaginable fashion, he was complete," Pepe said. 

Who would you rather have in your team?