PARIS — Brazilian icon Pele dismissed claims that soccer superstar Lionel Messi is now a worthy challenger for his title as the greatest player in the history of the game.

Messi recently was crowned FIFA’s world player of the year for a third straight year while being the outstanding player in a Barcelona side widely regarded as the finest club side of all time.

It again led to calls for the 24-year-old Argentinean to be considered alongside his countryman Maradona and Pele in soccer’s pantheon.

But Pele — who has long dismissed Maradona’s claim to the throne — said that Messi had even further to go to match his achievements in the game, not least for his failure to replicate his success at Barca with his national team.

The 71 year old said he admired Messi, adding that “technically, we’re practically at the same level,” but suggested those fueling the debate were simply ignorant of greatness.

“Some people will say that Beethoven didn’t know how to play the piano, that Michelangelo couldn’t paint and that Pele didn’t know how to play football,” the Brazilian told Le Monde newspaper. “When Messi scores 1,283 goals like me, when he wins three World Cups, then we can talk about it again.”

Pele added, “[Soccer] changes, and records are there to be beaten, but it’ll be very hard to beat mine. People ask me all the time, ‘When is the new Pele going to be born?’ Never. My father and mother have closed the factory.”

Read more: http://www.lemonde.fr/football/