'I've Seen Pele & Maradona, But Messi Is The Best'

FC Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has been labelled the greatest of all time ahead of legends Pele and Diego Maradona.

The Argentine forward has established himself as one of football's greatest stars since making his debut for the Catalan giants in 2004.

Messi has lifted a record six Ballon d'Or titles and has already bagged over 700 career goals by the age of 33.

Maschio, who won the Copa America with Argentina, believes the current Barcelona skipper is the greatest player of all-time.

"I've seen Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff - I've seen them all. But Messi is the best," Maschio told Clarin.

"I've faced some of those myself but I repeat, again, Messi is the best.

"They were great players in their time but the pace of the modern game is so different. Just look at the goals Messi has scored.

3) Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) – 31 goals / 62 points

10) Shon Weissmann (Wolfsberger AC) – 30 goals / 45 points

7) Jean-Pierre Nsame (Young Boys) – 32 goals / 48 points

9) Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) – 23 goals / 46 points

8) Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan) – 23 goals / 46 points

6) Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) – 25 goals / 50 points

5) Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) – 29 goals / 50 points

4) Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) – 28 goals / 56 points

2) Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) – 34 goals / 68 points

1) Ciro Immobile (Lazio) – 36 goals / 72 points

"Leo doesn't run around much on the pitch but when he needs to, it's as if the ball is stuck to his feet.

"I've seen players with unbelievable pace but when they have the ball, they slow down. Yet with Leo it's the opposite and he does it in such a fantastic way."