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Best vs Messi

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MessiWinner
97.0

Messi wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics

Best
21.4

Best wins: no category outright

🇬🇧 George Best🇦🇷 Lionel Messi
Candidates
Locked to Football

Shareable URL · /compare/disc-george-best-vs-messi

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi
97.0

Messi leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories. Eight Ballons d'Or and a World Cup to close the argument.

1. Lionel Messi
97.0
2. George Best
21.4

Category breakdown

Season form · Goals per season

GOAT pace tracker

Through age 21 · Goals per season
1. 🇦🇷 Lionel Messi79 goals
4 seasons by age 21 · 19.8 per season

Setting the pace at age 21

No verified birth date for Best — shown in the pro-debut view instead.

Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.

MetricBestRetiredMessiActive · Inter Miami CF
Ballon d'Or18
Career goals—879
Career assists—383
World Cups—1
Champions League titles—4
League titles—12
Goals per 90—0.79
Dominance w25%21.798
Peak w20%23.799
Longevity w20%17.392
Honours w20%25.197
Statistics w15%18.399
View profile · Best →View profile · Messi →

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Messi97.0
Best21.4
The people
Best—
Messi—

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