No one would know better than Tony Pulis whether or not Lionel Messi 'could do it' on a cold night in Stoke, and he's finally answered the question.
It doesn't matter what Messi has done throughout his career, and it's a hell of a lot, there always seems to have been the nagging question about playing in Stoke.
Despite being one the best players in the world for over a decade, and with seven Ballon d'Ors already to his name, the hypothetical idea of him playing against Stoke City, especially when they were in the Premier League under Pulis, has remained.
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Their Bet365 Stadium was also well known for being pretty cold, due to the exposed corners of the ground, allowing wind to swirl around, and Pulis side were pretty physical.
Now, speaking exclusively to SPORTbible, Pulis has answered the question about Messi's ability to play in the Potteries, as you can watch in the video below.
"He could do it anywhere you know," the former Stoke boss told us.
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"He's just absolutely extraordinary player.
"And it'd be you know, he might not get involved as much as maybe he might do in a warm climate. But he'd do two or three things during the game that would win the game.
"That's what he is. He's just a special special person."
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The Welshman isn't quite as convinced that the 35-year-old is the greatest player ever though. "No I've spoken to people about this," he added when asked if Messi was the greatest ever,
"I'm a [19]50s baby so you know, I can remember Pele, [Diego] Maradona.
"Then I'd go Messi, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, they would be four standout and then you've got you know, again, it's great players of their time."
Both Messi and Ronaldo were recently included in the FIFPro 26 man shortlist for the Men's World Team of the Year, despite the latter's recent move to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia and failure at the World Cup.
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The Argentine will be competing to be named The Best Player in the World by FIFA on Monday, and is up against Karim Benzema and PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe.
Watch the full video on LADbible's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/5Xqb2lqpMQw
Listen to the full episode on all major podcast platforms
Apple Podcasts:
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sportbible-stories/id1645119185?uo=4
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Topics: Football, Premier League, Lionel Messi, Stoke City, Spotlight, Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain
Ryan Sidle