What happened. In 2012, Sir Alex Ferguson was asked whether Lionel Messi, then 24, belonged in the same conversation as Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff. Ferguson gave an emphatic response about the Argentine.

Messi was already being measured against Maradona and Cruyff at just 24.
Ferguson's answer was emphatic, per the report.
The exchange resurfaced as a talking point about Messi's GOAT case.

The old answer adds to the long-running debate over Messi's place among football's greatest players.

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L. Messi

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