Lionel Messi

"Leo is a virtuoso. He does things with the ball that just seem impossible. He's got great ability. His control of the ball when he is running at high speed is excellent. He has a superb shot. There is precision in his passing. To summarise... he's got everything. He has every single attribute you would want to find in a player."

"If Gary Lineker is saying that Messi is making him realise just how sh*t he was — then imagine how the rest of us feel."

"My record stood for 40 years - 85 goals in 60 games - and now the best player in the world has broken it, and I'm delighted for him. He is an incredible player, gigantic."

"Technically, we’re practically at the same level."

"His control and technique while going at full speed is unique in the world."

"Messi will be the player to win the most Ballons d'Or in history. He will win five, six, seven. He is incomparable. He's in a different league."

"For me, Messi is the greatest. I played with Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Michael Laudrup and Stoichkov but Messi is the best I’ve seen. He has evolved in a way that nobody could expect."

"When it comes down to natural talent there’s no one who’s at Messi’s level."

"Messi is better than Maradona; he is more complete, more consistent, more spectacular. He is reinventing the game – a mix of the real and the virtual."

"Messi is better than Maradona and Pelé. Every week he shows that he is capable of things that no one had done until now. Messi defies the laws of anatomy, he must have an extra bone in his ankle."

"I can't believe anyone can have played the game of football as well as Messi."

"I think now he’s probably done more than most players. But he is in the same class as Alfredo de Stefano, Johan Cruyff, Pelé. When he finishes and he retires, he will automatically become one of them. A player that people will talk about forever, while the game of football is as good and as popular as it is. He is a sensational player."

"Messi is simply the best player in the world. Messi is alone in his class as a player, it is impossible that there is another like him."

"Messi is the best player I've ever seen, better than Maradona and Cruyff combined."

"Messi is Maradona every day. He has played at the level of Maradona in 1986 for the past five years."

"I can only repeat what I have already said before and that is that Messi is the best in the world at the moment. It pains me to admit it, but it’s the simple truth."

"Newton and Einstein also had a certain level of autism. I hope that like them, Messi surpasses himself every day and continues giving us his beautiful brand of football."

"What’s really incredible is his consistency. It’s practically inhuman to keep going like him. What Messi has achieved, far outweighs what Cristiano has done."

"When Messi has the ball at his feet he can do things that you can’t imagine."

"There is only one player who is doing things that I could never do and that is Messi."

"He's the great player of this generation, like there were great players in other generations."

"Messi produces more pieces of exceptional skill in a single game than I managed in an entire career."

"Messi is a genius. He has everything. When I watch him I see a player who is very, very skilful, very clever and his left foot is like Diego Maradona's."

"Big congratulations to Messi, the magician, the artist, the genius. What more words can I use to describe this guy? Twenty-seven years old and broken the Champions League record from Raúl. Possibly one of the hardest players I’ve played against in my time in the game. The left foot. It’s beautiful. At the moment this guy’s taking liberties with everyone."

"There's a special part of Messi's brain allowing him to see the split-second chaos of football in his own personal super slow motion."

"Messi is really a different class. To win four consecutive Ballon d'Ors is a great achievement."

"The Messi of the early years was a phenomenon, but he always wanted to finish off the move. Now he goes past one, two or three players and is happy to give an assist to a team-mate - it makes him more dangerous and more difficult to stop than ever before."

"He's the first genius of the 21st century."

"I am not ashamed to admit that in the games against Barcelona I spent a lot of the time just hoping he would take up positions as far away from me as possible."

"I think about the great players with whom I have shared a pitch: Eric Cantona, Zinedine Zidane, Pirlo, Xavi, Cristiano Ronaldo – and the greatest of them all is Messi."

"He's a problem solver, a game changer, the greatest player to have played the game. I am more than 60 years old now, and I don't believe that I've seen, or that I'm likely to see, anyone better in my lifetime. The world's best when I was growing up was Pele and he would have been a great player now, too, but Messi surpasses him. He's also way out ahead of Diego Maradona - it's not even close anymore."

"I was lucky enough to play with Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Cristiano... but Messi is different; he makes everything look so easy, so effortless – even the impossible."

"Messi makes the difference. I think he has reached and surpassed the level of Maradona."

"The best by far is Messi. Second is Maradona, third is Pele and Di Stefano. Fifth is Cruyff, Zidane or Pele."

"Not often I sit and watch football and chuckle at how good someone is."

"Messi is the real deal when it comes to No10s. He represents a type of football that transcends borders."

"Messi is the best in the world by far; for me, nobody comes close."

"What Messi does is terrifying. It’s indescribable magic. You can’t analyze it."

"I love Messi. Who doesn't? He's from another planet. An extraordinary player."

"Messi has been the best player of the last 10 years. He played at the same level for 10 years."

"I never ever thought I would say that there was a better player than Maradona since he was in my time and I was in awe of him, but I honestly think for a number of reasons that Messi has surpassed him. He can do anything that Maradona did, and he does it more frequently and consistently."

"He's head and shoulders above anyone I've seen. He's an alien. He's better now than he was four years ago because he reads the game better. He's unstoppable."

"Barcelona have a great team with one special player, Messi. He is able to unlock a game from out of nowhere. Cristiano Ronaldo has been putting in spectacular performances, but there really is no comparison with Messi. Messi is on another level than all the other players. He is the undisputed best. No player has the ability to do what he does."

"He can hurt you 40 metres away from goal, not because he takes the ball and starts dribbling past opponents, but because on top of that he can also create the definitive goal chance. The god of football started playing, he is unstoppable when he starts playing. If you think otherwise, ask Jerome Boateng or all those fantastic players that face him."

"Messi is the best I’ve ever seen. I don’t dish out praise lightly but Messi deserves it. I look for weaknesses in his game and I can’t find them."

"He really is from a different planet. Even if you are supporting another team you have to admit this."

"Messi is the Pelé of my generation. I don't understand the criticism of him. You cannot criticize a player like Messi."

"I heard an interview with Sir Alex Ferguson where he revealed his greatest players of all time. He said Messi was in a category of his own. I am a big fan of Diego Maradona but Messi is a phenomenon. His performances at club level are unbelievable. You can play a season or two like that, but not all these years. He set the bar very high from the start."

"He doesn't have the personality to be a leader."

"Sometimes I ask myself if Messi is human"