If Argentina manage to win the World Cup today, will Messi go down as the greatest player of all time undisputed, ahead of Pele and Maradona? No arguments?

For me he's a had a good world cup so far, not an "outstanding" or "great" one like some people are saying. He's scored 4 good goals, mainly against some of the weakest opposition in the tournament, but nonetheless, they were good goals (and important ones).

Pundits are always itching to speak of something as the 'greatest ever', whether its this world cup, somebody's goal, somebody's team (Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer ir you recall declared Spain the greatest national team ever seen after the 4-0 euro 2012 final).

So there's always a narative by pundits that somethings the 'greatest ever'. If Argentina win this WC, even if its a 1-0 lucky Higuain deflected shot, this will be the first topic of conversation. And boy will you bet all the pundits will be falling over themselves to declare it I guarentee it.

Now I know some of you already think he is the greatest ever already, and a WC win isn't necessarily needed for him in your eyes to acclaim this title, fair enough.

For me, he already is as good as Maradona and Pele, but not necessarily better than them, mainly because its so hard to compare different generations. I hold this opinion before todays game, and will hold after todays game. Basically my opinion wont change of him based on one match, but others undoubtedly will. What do you think?

Maradona is greater than Pele. Zidane is the greatest player since Maradona. And all three are greater than Messi. However, if Messi lifts the cup in Brazil he will be declared the greatest ever.

Irrespective of tonight's outcome, Messi is not even the greatest Argentinian player of all time, both Di Stefano and Maradona are ahead of him in my view.

I think Messi will have to make an outstanding contribution in the final to challenge Maradona. Maradona took games by the scruff of the neck and single-handedly made the difference. So far, Messi has scored a few good goals, but was practically anonymous in the semi-final.
If this becomes known as "the Messi final" through an outstanding performance then Maradona's position will be in danger. Otherwise, I don't think things will change much.
Messi will continue to be known as one of the greatest of the past 20+ years, but not quite at the same level as Maradona.

As Pele vs Maradona shows it will never be undisputed even if he bags a hat-trick and gives everyone the run-around, but it'd certainly make it a lot harder to argue against his place amongst that pack of contenders.

Zidane is the only player of the past 20 years who can challenge Maradona & Pele, yet he is never mentioned. It's always Messi vs Ronaldo.

Don't forget, the winners medals are having the Argentian players names being carved into them as we speak.

That's the first I've heard on here of Spain being declared the best team ever by the BBC, what are they going to do next, declare this World Cup the best ever before the last fan empties the stadium later on? that would be an outrage

Those pundits itching to declare everything as best ever, it's enough to get obsessed over, and post about time and again. Also, this World Cup is written in the stars for Argentina, only they have their name on the trophy, Germany might as well concede it now.

Pele
Maradona
Zidane
Beckenbauer
Zoff
& Many others

Names you think of straight away when you think of World Cups. Amazing players who are still talked about today as greats of the world stage.
The trouble is, Messi has been good in the World Cups he's played in, but nothing to wrtie home about. Great players take the game, and make it theirs. Messi I don't think will reach the status of the greats of the game. He is good in bursts but he doesn't make you leave the match louding over his overall performance.

Which Messi is going to show up?

The absolute genius that most of us are familiar with or the one that that you forget is on the pitch until the commentator mentions his name after 3 quarters of the game.

So the final has been played.

Messi for me is already one of the best, and certainly will finish in the top 5, probably along side Maradona and Pele.

The unique thing about this sport is that their is no official GOAT, which if I'm being honest I quite like. Its not like tennis where its Roger Federer or golf where its Jack Nicklaus, defined by major wins. Its much harder to be measured in this sport.

So for me, if Messi wants to be the absolute GOAT of all GOATs, he will have to win the World Cup. Its so hard to have a GOAT in this sport, where we've never really had one in the past 30 years, that for Messi to be considered to absolute king of this sport, he will need to have a faultless career. You basically need at least 75-80% of the public to be in agreement with the decision of who is GOAT, that for Messi to have that, he has to win the WC, otherwise it will be a used as stick to beat him and he'll up finishing as one of the GOAT's, not the GOAT. A man with a great club career who failed (relatively speaking) at the international scene. Sorry but its true. There is no official GOAT of this sport and it will remain the so (in my opinion) unless Messi wins the WC outright.

There is not G.O.A.T. in football? It's only between Pele and Maradona. Those are the only accepted choices.

Messi is not the greatest of all time.

Precisely you've just answered my question, (Pele or Maradona, or perhaps Messi later) there is no clear GOAT in this sport just GOATs.