Pelé and Messi at their peaks

I started this blog in 2015 with a comparison between the two players who, back then, I already considered to be the two greatest football geniuses ever: Pelé and Messi. Time only helped me to solidify my opinion: both sit at the top of the sport. Personally, I still maintain my vision that Pele has not been surpassed; I please ask you to read my article “Why is Pelé still the greatest of all time?”.

Back to this topic, I have decided to compare their peaks, a short period in which they were at their absolute best.

PELÉ

The King lived his physical and goalscoring prime from when he was 20 up to 23 years old, between 1961 and 1963. During the early 60’s, he was the leading scorer and probably also the player with most assists from that period (we don’t have the exact number of assists, but at least for the Brazilian National Team, he had the best per game average). Furthermore, Pelé led Santos, the best football club in the world back then, Santos, who dazzled people all around the world with their tours.

As an example of the King and his team dominance, we can mention that in 1962, Santos beat Benfica, European Cup champions from that year, at Lisbon 5 goals to 2, winning the Intercontinental Cup. Pelé scored 3 goals and had 1 assist, in a performance he ranks as the best in his career. Costa Pereira, then Benfica’s goalkeeper, stated after the game: “I arrived hoping to stop a great man, but I went away convinced I had been undone by someone who was not born on the same planet as the rest of us.”

From 1965 on, the frequent violent tackles and the wear and tear of hundreds of games per year (because of Santos famous tours around the world) induced Pelé to gain muscle strength for his protection, which resulted in a small decrease of his speed. An all-time great, 1970 World Cup Winner (alongside the King) and an excellent football writer, Tostão reinforces this opinion:

Youngsters today think, history thinks, that Pelé’s prime was in 1970, and it really wasn’t. It was in 1957, 1958, when he started at 16, 17 years old, until like1965. There was a period in which he would score two, three amazing goals every game, something incredible. So much so that he reached more than a thousand goals. It was something else, for Santos and the “Seleção”. It was unbelievable to think of a player on that level. From 1965 to 1970, what happened was that with aging he became a little heavier, but remained better than everyone else. Although he did not have the same regularity and leadership to play spectacularly every game, he slowed down his rhythm.

Likewise, Tim Vickery, British journalist:

By 1970 he had lost some of the spark of the Pele of a few years earlier. Tostao, his strike partner in that World Cup, was adamant about it when I spoke to him on the subject a few years ago.  The best Pele, he said, was before 1964.  “After that he bulked up, put on muscle, was stronger, conserved his technique but got heavier and lost some of his mobility.”

The man himself says that the greatest performance of his career came in Lisbon against Benfica in the final of the World Club at the end of 1962.  Watching the images of his performance in that game is to witness a force of nature – one which could have had his finest hour in a Brazil shirt in that year’s World Cup.

Of all the goals that Pele scored in the tournament, the most dazzling came in Brazil’s debut match of the 1962 campaign against Mexico.  He charges through the defence with the ball bouncing around him like an obedient puppy, with pace and power, two footed skill and single minded purpose.  It is a goal that the teenage 1958 Pele would not have been strong enough to score, and the veteran 1970 model no longer had the sinuous movement.

The mind boggles at what Pele might have done in the rest of that 1962 tournament.

Stats* and main trophies from 1961 to 1963:

156 goals in 111 games for Santos Santos (1.40 per game) and 15 goals in15 games for Brazil (1 per game). Total: 161 goals in 126 games (1.27 per game).

Titles: 3 Brazilian Championships, 2 Libertadores, 2 Intercontinental Cups and 1 World Cup.

Retroactive Ballon D’or of 1961 and 1963.

*I’ve only considered “official goals” by today’s standards despite, as previous stated, considering such anachronistic to do so.

MESSI

The Argentinian genius lived his absolute peak from 2011 to 2013, from 24 to 27 years old. Messi, despite showing his potential from an early age, was not as precocious as legends like Ronaldo and Pelé. However, his peak was arguably as great as anyone who has ever played the game. Playing as a right winger or as a false 9, “La Pulga” became in that period the Europe’s best goal scorer and playmaker. Barcelona, under coach Guardiola (who revolutionized football) and technically led on the field by Messi, established itself as one of the greatest teams ever. The Catalan Coach stated in 2012 after the Argentinian, at age 24, broke Cesar Rodriguez’s 57-year record as the Barcelona’s record goal scorer:

Leo has rightfully entered into history. We are witnessing the best [player] in every sense. He does everything, and he does it every three days. He doesn’t just score goals, he scores great goals; each one is better than the last. We are seeing the very best in action. I’m sorry for those who try to take his throne but this kid is different, better; we are excited to have him.

Under Guardiola, Messi had total freedom, resulting in his best goalscoring season: 91 goals in 2012, beating the previous record of 85 by the legendary German striker Gerd Muller.

Also in that year, the late great Johan Cruyff, known as an acid football critic, did not spare complements about Messi and Barcelona:

For football, Messi is a gem because he is a role model for every child in the world…Barca play a type of football which delights everyone in the world and they have a coach with great human qualities, something that is extremely important nowadays.

After Messi scored unbelievable 5 goals against Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16 of the 2012 Champions League, Wayne Rooney (who had played a couple of his years alongside Cristiano Ronaldo for Manchester United), bluntly stated: “Messi is a joke. For me the best ever”.

Stats and main trophies from 2011 to 2013:

186 goals in 165 games for Barcelona (1.12 per game). 22 goals in 29 games for Argentina (0.75 per game). Total: 208 goals in 194 games (1.07 per game).

Titles and awards: 2 Spanish League Titles, 1 Champions League and 1 World Club Cup.

2011 and 2012 Ballon D’or.

Lastly, I must say that Pelé and Messi both obviously had spectacular peaks. Personally, I still think the Brazilian was even more dominant in his time, but this does not diminish the Argentinian greatness in any way. What about you, dear readers, what do you think?