"I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi. Messi is a genius and he can become an even better player. His potential is limitless and I think he’s got everything it takes to become Argentina’s greatest player."

"Nobody was so wonderful at 19 years, neither Pele nor Maradona."

"He is an exceptional talent. I still think Diego Maradona is the best player I have ever seen – but Messi is closing in fast. He's a wonderful sight in full flight and we are lucky to have him around."

"There are three or four important things in life: books, friends, women, and Messi."

"Messi is the best player of all time, and today he had a stormer."

"Messi is out of this world. He is a special player and you can't compare him to me. It would be unfair to him."

"I think Messi's just beyond everyone else."

"It's impossible to control Leo for 90 minutes."

"Messi has always been my idol."

"Messi is an alien, that dedicates himself to playing with humans."

"The best striker I have ever faced? Lionel Messi. It has always been Messi."

"Lionel Messi is out of this world, he's an alien. For me, he is the best player in the history of football."

"It's the efficiency that made the difference. Messi is fantastic, the best player ever."

"Messi is God – you see him on the pitch and he is spectacular."

"Messi is class. There is him, and then there is the rest. What he does is extraordinary. He demands admiration."

"He is by far the best player in the world – he’s a one-off."

"Needless to repeat, that he’s the best player in the world, the best of all-time. I enjoy training with him, he makes everything easier."

"He's the best of all time."

"He's achieved so many great things and set the bar so high that practically nobody is ever going to reach it."

"Messi is the best player in the world. We'd have to kidnap him to stop him."

"Messi is so talented that 70% of the goals I scored at Barça came from his boots. With him in your team, you're calm."

"Having him as a rival is complicated. You see game after game that it is impossible to take the ball off him, impossible to stop him. There are no words to decribe his talent. For me, and as others have said, he is from another planet."

"It's a gift. I haven’t seen any other player, at least during my career, who plays like Messi does. For me that makes him the best footballer in the world."

"For me, he's the best player in the world. That's football. Defending Messi one-on-one is not possible."

"I spent four beautiful years with Messi at Barcelona. He is an exceptional player. I'm very happy that he was my teammate."

"This award says I’m the best player in the world, but I’m not even the best player at Barcelona."

"He deserves 10 out of 10 for doing what he does."

"I see Messi every time he grabs the ball and accelerates. But he is shy, like a little brother who likes to hang out with PlayStation rather than talk. We must protect him. I'd personally put him in a drawer of my bedside table."

"Leo floats over the field - sometimes you have the sensation he's not even there, that he's hiding. But he's there and the rival knows it."

"Messi is out of this planet, I would say he is so far ahead of the rest of the players playing right now and I would say historically as well. There are not words to describe him."

"For me, to watch Messi play is a pleasure – it's like having an orgasm – it's an incredible pleasure."

"When I see Messi playing, I think he should win the Ballon d'Or every year. I have no doubt. He is an unbelievable player."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"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."

"You can forget the Little Donkey, the Rabbit, the Clown and all the other great pretenders, it's the Flea with the fast feet and fabulous control who gets closest to el Diego. He may not have the same the strutting confidence or the big mouth - in fact, he makes whispering Ted Lowe sound like a town crier - but there's definitely something about Messi."

"Messi is the best, for me, Messi is God, he is the best and always will be – for what he has given the team and for how much he has made me enjoy being in the same team as him."

"Messi is unbelievable. It is great to get the chance to play against the best in the world. It doesn't really need repeating: he is a fantastic 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 really a different class. To win four consecutive Ballon d'Ors is a great achievement."

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

"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."

"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."

"Messi saved football. There has never been such an overwhelming, devastating, decisive and unique player."

"He's a once in a generation player. I think it's unlikely that any human being again will repeat the numbers that Messi is getting."

"I am not crazy enough to compare myself with Messi because he is the best there ever was and the best there will ever be."