{"id":367693,"date":"2011-04-04T20:12:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T20:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/04\/i-was-better-than-barcelona%e2%80%99s-lionel-messi-%e2%80%93-ghana-legend-mohammed-%e2%80%98polo%e2%80%99-ahmed\/"},"modified":"2011-04-04T20:12:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T20:12:00","slug":"i-was-better-than-barcelonas-lionel-messi-ghana-legend-mohammed-polo-ahmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/04\/i-was-better-than-barcelonas-lionel-messi-ghana-legend-mohammed-polo-ahmed\/","title":{"rendered":"I was better than Barcelona\u2019s Lionel Messi \u2013 Ghana legend Mohammed \u2018Polo\u2019 Ahmed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<h3>By Subhankar Mondal<\/h3>\n<h4>4 Apr 2011 21:12:00<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<div readability=\"68.992736077482\">\n<div readability=\"19.905511811024\">\n<div>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lionel Messi - Barcelona (Getty Images)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/bc0e0896125857_news.jpg.jpg\" \/><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Lionel Messi &#8211; Barcelona (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<h4>Related Links<\/h4>\n<h4>Teams<\/h4>\n<h4>Players<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>        <span readability=\"31.55905511811\"><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/teams\/spain\/125\/barcelona\">Barcelona<\/a> star <a href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/people\/argentina\/8012\/lionel-messi\">Lionel Messi<\/a> may be widely acknowledged as the world\u2019s best player at the moment, but Ghana legend Mohammed \u2018Polo\u2019 Ahmed believes that during his playing days he was far better than the Argentina international forward.<\/p>\n<p>Messi won FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009 and the Ballon d\u2019Or in 2009 and 2010. The 23-year-old has also been regularly compared to Argentine legend Diego Maradona, with some even claiming that he will become a better player than El Diego.<\/p>\n<p>However, Mohammed \u2018Polo\u2019 Ahmed, who is known as the \u2018Dribbling Magician\u2019 and is often regarded as the most technically gifted Ghanaian footballer ever, doesn\u2019t buy the hype and says that at his prime he was better than Messi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe for instance, I was such a good player on the ball [better] than even Lionel Messi,\u201d \u2018Polo\u2019 is quoted as saying by <em>Ghanasoccernet.com<\/em>. \u201cI could do many things with the ball that he cannot do now.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I watch him play regularly and hear people saying he is the best footballer of all time but I disagree and hope most people who watched me will also do same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cWe tend to hype footballers too much nowadays and I can tell you if we had got this kind of hype during our time then Messi would have been nowhere near me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Polo\u2019 was part of the Ghana national football team that won the 1978 African Nations Cup on home soil.<\/p>\n<p>        <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/bc0e0896125857_news.jpg-150x150.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Read this article:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/news\/2886\/africa\/2011\/04\/04\/2426416\/i-was-better-than-barcelonas-lionel-messi-ghana-legend\" title=\"I was better than Barcelona\u2019s Lionel Messi \u2013 Ghana legend Mohammed \u2018Polo\u2019 Ahmed\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I was better than Barcelona\u2019s Lionel Messi \u2013 Ghana legend Mohammed \u2018Polo\u2019 Ahmed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> By Subhankar Mondal 4 Apr 2011 21:12:00 Lionel Messi &#8211; Barcelona (Getty Images) Related Links Teams Players Barcelona star Lionel Messi may be widely acknowledged as the world\u2019s best player at the moment, but Ghana legend Mohammed \u2018Polo\u2019 Ahmed believes that during his playing days he was far better than the Argentina international forward. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-367693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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