Juliano Belletti has described former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi as ‘the Pele of this generation.’
Belletti, a scorer as Barca won the Champions League in 2006 and now a club ambassador, is with La Blaugrana in the United States.
“Messi is the Pele of my generation,” Belletti said, Sport reports, after he was asked about criticism aimed at Messi from Argentina.
“I don’t understand it. You can’t criticise a player like Messi. But the same thing happened to a special player like Ronaldinho in Brazil.”
Belletti stayed with the Barca Brazilians by moving on to Neymar, explaining the forward’s extended summer break is for the best.
“He’s young. People think as a player he’s older than he is. He still has time to mature. He’ll be motivated when he returns. The holiday will do him good because he deserves a rest,” the former right-back continued.
