Is Lionel Messi the greatest player ever?

i think yes..for now, he is greatest player. no doubt about it...

As individual, Messi is one of the best players in the world. But become greatest player ever, he need to proved that he also can give Argentina "World Champion" title/trophy. Pele have 3 and Maradona have 2 (if I'm not mistaken) and Messi still zero

I think the only thing that Messi has to do now is to lead Argentina to world cup success. All the great players before him in the likes of Pele, Maradona and Zidane have been great successes in both club and country football. That is a serious hole in Messi's resume. If he can inspire Argentina to World Cup success, then I think he can really make a claim for this title. Cheers! Ram

I am sure he is the greatest player ever at the club level. He has been the main reason barcelona can play a free flowing football as messi poses such pace and deft touch and scares players from the other team. But the same cannot be said when he plays for the national team. It seems he is too accustomed to the barcelona style that he cant play well for argentina. He cant seem to create magic at national level. If he has to be called the greatest player ever he should atleast take argentina to the world cup finals if not win the wolrd cup.

Messi could be the greatest player in his era. To be the greatest player ever, he has to win the biggest trophy, the World Cup. He needs to do what Maradona has done and that is to single-handedly win the trophy for his country. Until Messi does it, he is not in the league of Maradona.

Yes Lionel Messi is probably the greatest player ever. He scores goals for fun, beats defenders like as if they were not there, has amazing ball control, terrific acceleration, can take on an entire team single handedly and in short can be compared to a superman on the football field. BUT ALL THIS HAPPENS ONLY WHEN HE PLAYS FOR BARCELONA. For Argentina, his performances have been decent and no better than any others to make him stand out. Pele and Maradona are considered the best as they achieved success at the World cup with the national team. The world cup winneres medal is considered to be the holy grail for every footballer. So as long as Messi does not win the world cup , the best player tag will never be his and there will be doubters who will say he is special becasue Barcelona is special and he is great only becasue of Xavi and Iniesta.