.
After watching his former club Santos win the Copa Libertadores,
the Brazilian was asked whether he thought Messi was at the same
level as him.
"Messi better than Pele? To get there he needs to score more
than 1283 goals," said the 70-year old.
Pele scored 1283 goals throughout his career for Santos, New
York Cosmos and Brazil,
while Messi, who has just turned 24, has so far scored 180 senior
goals for Barcelona and Argentina.
The latest Brazil star Neymar
scored in Santos's win over Penarol in the Libertadores final and
has been linked with Real Madrid and Chelsea but Pele used his opportunity to
talk about the 19-year-old by having another swipe at Messi.
"Neymar has great talent. I hope Neymar doesn’t end up like
Messi, who plays so well for his club but does nothing for his
country,” said Pele.
Earlier this year Pele spoke about himself in the third person
to reveal how he rated his own achievements.
"Nobody did what Pele did. Being champion of the world at 17
years old, won three World Cups, scored more than 1,208 goals -
only him! Then until now, nobody did this... to me, Pele is the
best," he told CNN in April.
