Gatti: Pele was better than Maradona, and Messi is last on the list of greats

Former Argentina goalkeeper Hugo Gatti is not one to ever shy away from controversy, and his latest comments on Diego Maradona and Leo Messi have not gone unnoticed.

Gatti praised his late compatriot, but insisted that Pele was the greatest player of all time.

"The best was Pele, I saw him play a lot, I faced him. Maradona is up there with the likes of [Alfredo] Di Stefano, [Johann] Cruyff, although I understand why many put him up there," he told Ole.

"The big difference is that Pele, when he retired, did not have an off-field life as controversial as Maradona's. Diego was very good, but Pele was the greatest.

"It was very difficult to deal with Diego, one of the biggest personalities in the world like Cassius Clay [Muhammad Ali], like [Michael] Jordan, like Pele, like presidents of the United States.

"I think it was impossible to be Diego, a very special guy. Your environment deifies you, he was like a God on earth, but in reality there is only one God," Gatti said.

Gatti is a frequent critic of Barcelona's Leo Messi, and didn't miss his opportunity this time either.

"Messi is the best of recent years, in this [period of] football which is false. which is not football, that has stopped being football. They play with VAR," he said in another interview with TNT Sports.

"I'm not bashing Messi. I have said, and will always say, that Messi, on my list of the best players that I've seen, is in last place."