When Pele named his 12 greatest of all time footballers including Messi, Cristiano

Brazil football icon Pele is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to ever walk the pitch.

While he never plied his trade outside his native Brazil, Pele did enjoy an illustrious football career, especially with the national team.

The legendary forward won an incredible three World Cups with the South American football powerhouse in 1958, 1962, and 1970.

Sportbible reports that despite his exploits that saw him ink his name as one of the greatest footballers of all time, the former Santos star had his favourite players as well.

Back in 2020, Pele had a sit down with MadristaReal.com and revealed his top 10 footballers of all time.

At the time, the Brazil legend was asked to name the player he believed to be the best.

Spoilt of choices, the football great went on to name 12 players, including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pele started off by naming Argentina legend Diego Maradona alongside Real Madrid icon Angel Di Stefano.

Next on his list were Italy's Giovanni Trapattoni, and his Brazil teammate Mane Garrincha.

Johan Cruyff was also included in the list, as was Bayern Munich legend Franz Beckenbauer.

The list also featured France icon Zinedine Zidane as well as Ronaldo Nazario before he gave Messi and Ronaldo special mentions.

“Today we are lucky. Cristiano [Ronaldo] is great. [Lionel] Messi is incredible," he noted.