Who's the greatest - Messi, Pele or Eboue?

It was inevitable. Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick this week against Granada, taking him top of Barcelona's all-time goalscoring charts. The media/Twitter/fan love-in began in earnest, praising him as the greatest footballer of all time. The media/Twitter/hater hate-in sparked in response, claiming that he's nothing - he hasn't won the World Cup, and that anyone could score countless goals with a midfield like Barca's supplying passes...

As a current player, the method (as adjudged by FIFA) for deciding the best player in the World is to invite national coaches to vote for their top three, on a preference style vote (they're not allowed to vote for their compatriots), although it isn't foolproof because for example Paul Scholes has never received a vote, and yet Xavi almost won it? (Note sarcasm)

The Daily Mail in anti-foreigner shock

But is there a foolproof formula to decide on who is the best player of them all? Football by it's nature is cyclical, and it's rare for more than a couple of elite players playing at the same time. You could almost have a timeline from Pele, to Cruyff, to Maradona, Van Basten, Baggio, Zidane, Messi. Almost.

Like the arguments of "Who would win in a fight, Superman or Mighty Mouse?" The minute you say Zidane, you'll be met by cries of Bergkamp! (fat) Ronaldo! Nedved! With any subjective discussion, someone is always right, and won't hear otherwise. You could resort to Football Manager stats, but that's no fun.

The question is a goldmine for football magazines when doing interviews, asking former pros, key figures and journalists who would be in their dream team?

Marco couldn't let go of the past and tried to sneak into shot

While it was almost universally accepted by fans across the world that Pele was the greatest of all, would we think differently if Maradona wasn't so flawed? The Pele brand seems to carry on, via Puma endorsements and erectile dysfunction, while Diego has become something of a parody of himself, a far cry from his amazing achievements with Argentina and Napoli. Do we finally have another contender? Or will (thin) Ronaldo continue trying to out-do the little Argentine?

We will never know - the nay-sayers will continue to claim that Messi won't be truly great until he wins a World Cup, but even he will need to hope that his colleagues get it right soon, football being a team game and all, something we forget in all the hype.

And until then, we'll always have Eboue...

Emmanuel was winning the race for the Ballon D'Or