by Mark Bassey

Jose Mourinho has insisted that Lionel Messi is not the best player of all time.

A lot of pundits and fans have spoken ahead of the World Cup final between Argentina and Germany this weekend, that if Messi manages to lead his country to victory, he will be considered the greatest of all time.

However, although Mourinho concedes the Barcelona player is a good footballer, he says the forward is not yet number one.

“I think Messi is a fantastic player. He doesn’t need to win the World Cup to be considered a fantastic player,” Mourinho said in his role as Yahoo’s Global Football Ambassador.

“He doesn’t need to win the World Cup to be considered an historical player in this decade. But for me he is not the greatest player of all time.”

The Chelsea manager went ahead to shower praises on Holland winger Arjen Robben and Paul Pogba, who in his opinion have been the stand out players of the tournament in Brazil.

“I think Robben has been the best player of the World Cup,” he said. “I think from day one until the last match he was the player who play at a high level, never ever up and down, always up.

“I would say Pogba has been the best young player, because he had a good World Cup despite the fact his team didn’t reach the last four. I think he showed that he is a big player for the next World Cup.

“The best goalkeeper? If Neuer is so good and solid in the final as he was up until now I would say Neuer.”

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