leading of , trying to win the only significant trophy that .The arc feels too narratively perfect to trust. Elite sport is always more brutal than it is bli sful. But then Me si is the player who has treated us to more moments of perfection than any other. Perhaps it was always building to this point?The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed But what about the final to end all finals, Me sis date with destiny?It would unquestionably be the most perfect yeah, that word again crescendo imaginable, equally satisfying to the completists and the romantics. But looking at Me sis overall body of work, his place at the top of the pile feels like an open-and-shut case.Of course, no one is truly objective in these debates and nor should Nathan Walker Jersey they be. We all have biases related to what weve seen certain players do, how they made us feel, and what they have come to mean and represent in the game and beyond.There are three men who rub shoulders with Me si in the sometimes interminable G.O.A.T. debate and his greatne s, which has been displayed so artfully in Qatar, feels like something that should highlight rather than diminish the achievements of all of them.MORE (The Sporting News) This is the hardest comparison of the three to make for a few reasons. If you think the debate between Me si and Cristiano Ronaldo is ridiculously polarised (more on that below), then all the very best trying to find a Brazilian who picks Me si, or an Argentine who plumps for .Beyond the tribalism of international footballs fiercest rivalry, the pa sage of time is the most considerable obstacle. to the biggest stage came more than half a century ago, as Brazils dazzling canary yellow shirts were beamed around the world in over-saturated technicolour, burning indelible images of their seminal triumph at Mexico 1970 in the worldwide imagination.That first World Cup shown in Nic Dowd Jersey colour was the latest step forward in footballs fledgling televisual age and was around for most of those big moments, from his breakthrough as an instant teenage superstar at the 1958 tournament, through injury heartache in victory and defeat in 1962, and 1966 respectfully, to the redemption of full realisation of Jogo Bonito at the Azteca Stadium in 1970. Getty Images MORE: Its hard to appreciate how fleeting the superstars of Peles generation were, like magical aliens beamed into television sets every four years before disappearing to the margins of newspaper and magazine column inches, where their lore grew through towering deeds and tall tales.By contrast, Me sis every move since emerging almost fully formed at Barcelona, where he took part in a first succe sful Champions League campaign in 2005/06, has been captured by dozens of cameras whenever he visits the field. Some analysis of his performances in Qatar has lurched into hagiography, but its remarkable how his showreel moments in every game still prompt such awe and wonderment. Shouldnt we all just be used to his extraterrestrial carry-on by now?One parallel between Me Ilya Samsonov Jersey si at Qatar 2022 and Pele at Mexico 1970 is how their most enduring contributions were not their goals. For Peles audacious shot from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia, to his no-touch dummy to beat the goalkeeper against Uruguay, and the feather-duster pa s for Carlos Albertos victory-sealing goal in the final, see Me si putting in his best performance of the group stage , or by and .All of those examples show its churlish to reduce Me si and Pele to mere numbers, however impre sive they might be. Brazil fans will particularly enjoy the tally of 3-0 in terms of World Cups, but Me si is closer on most other metrics and better off on many. There are four Champions Leagues to two Copa Libertadores trophies, and 11 domestic league titles to Peles seven.In December of 2021, , although the latter famously reached a career haul of 1,000 while at Santos before retiring at New York Cosmos with 1,281 in all matches including friendlies and exhibitions. 35 aos 5 goles 540 minutos jugadosNuestra leyenda, ms vigente que nunca Seleccin Argentina (@Argentina) For the modern, statistically obse sed game, the disparity in Peles two tallies attracts increasing mirth. But it is important to understand the context of those exhibitions. For every knockabout friendly, there were fiercely contested games against the best teams in the world.Santos were keen to cash in on having the golden boy in their ranks as football went global. The Copa Libertadores and European Cup were still in their infancy, meaning there was huge intrigue when Santos ventured acro s the Atlantic to take on the likes of Real Madrid and Inter Milan. These games were anything but a vehicle for stat padding.In many respects, they also pointed towards a future where the Champions League behemoth would allow the two best players in the world to define themselves as great irrespective of whether or not they hoisted a World Cup.MORE: (The Sporting News) Really? Do we have to? Honestly, .Me si vs. Ronaldo. Leo Martin Fehervary Jersey vs. Cristiano. LM10 vs. CR7. . And so on, and so on.As they reach the end of their careers it is surely the final World Cup for both both men seem more at peace with one another than they were on either side of El Clasicos divide during their mutual zenith. A pre-World Cup photoshoot .Their contrasting styles saw them drive one another to increasingly absurd heights and persuaded armies of acolytes to dig their heels in. Those differences also resulted in something approaching equality of outcome. They basically won everything, over and over again.Me si has seven Ballon dOr trophies to Ronaldos five. Ronaldo has five Champions League titles to Me sis four, and he is also . Ahead of the World Cup final, they have a scarcely credible 1,610 career goals between them. Getty Images Those statistics and Mike Gartner Jersey numbers are collated, along with plenty of others, on the . A poll there gives an insight into where weve landed away from the loudest voices on social media. Me si is rated as the best of the two by 77 percent of respondents.The reality of both their careers with the po sible exception of the middle of the previous decade when Ronaldo inspired Real Madrid to three consecutive Champions Leagues and won a major honour with Portugal before his rival had done likewise with Argentina is that Me si has always felt one beat, an imperceptible shuffle of his dancing feet ahead. Sundays grand climax coming at the end of a tournament when and magnifies this to a harsh degree.If youve made your mind up on , this article or anything else probably wont change your mind. Just accept that they have unquestionably been a gift to one another. (The Sporting News) At once the easiest and most uncomfortable of these comparisons. Both Argentinas No. 10, both their countrys captain, b