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Pele vs Diego Maradona: Who was better? The stats head-to-head showdown

Long before it was 'Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?' the debate over which player is the greatest of all time was dominated by Pele and Diego Maradona.

Pele's exploits for Brazil and Santos earned him the nickname O Rei, or 'The King', as he helped the Selecao light up the football world from the late 1950s into the early 1970s.

The South American pair did not play in the same era, like Ronaldo and Messi, with Maradona taking up the mantle in the 1980s into the 1990s, but that didn't stop the comparisons.