Van Basten slams Messi’s attitude and snubs him from top three players ever but gives Cristiano Ronaldo special mention
DUTCH footballing legend Marco van Basten has claimed Lionel Messi is not the type of player who would "go to war" on the pitch.
The 57-year-old neglected Paris Saint-Germain ace in his top-three players of all time.
Much of the footballing world regard seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi as the greatest to ever play the game, but not Van Basten.
Instead he picked another Argentinian great in Diego Maradona as one of his top-three players in history.
Van Basten said, via : "Pele, [Diego] Maradona and [Johan] Cruyff are for me the three greatest players in history.
"As a kid I wanted to be like Cruyff. He was my friend. I miss him. Pele and Maradona were also incredible."
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While former Ajax and AC Milan striker Van Basten labelled Messi as a "great player", he claimed Maradona has "more personality" when playing in a team.
He continued: "Messi is also a great player, but Maradona always had more personality in a team. Messi is not the one who puts himself at the front to go to war."
Van Basten also gave honourable mentions to Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and French duo Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane.
He concluded: "I'm not forgetting Cristiano Ronaldo, [Michel] Platini or [Zinedine] Zidane.
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Messi endured a mixed first season at PSG following his historic transfer from Barcelona last summer.
The 34-year-old scored just six league goals for the French giants, but did register an impressive 15 assists.
Alongside Neymar, Messi was booed and jeered by PSG fans during a 3-0 home win against Bordeaux in March.
Some even called for him to leave by vandalising PSG's training ground with graffiti which read 'Leo out'.
However, despite the underwhelming season he is reportedly set to stay at the Parc des Princes next year.