Brazil manager Tite has insisted that Lionel Messi cannot be compared with three-time World Cup winner Pele.
The latter is regarded by many as the greatest footballer of all time, with the forward playing a talismanic role in the famous Brazil team - often regarded as the best side in football history - that won the World Cup in 1970.
However, despite not winning the World Cup, others believe that Messi's otherworldly abilities with the ball at his feet elevate him above any other former legend.
Tite told Goal.com: "Pele is incomparable. Anybody who wants to compare Pele to any other athlete... do you know what I do? I hear but I don't listen.
"It's as if this person doesn't know the history of this man's quality... this guy was phenomenal. Once I said that Messi is extraordinary.
"I meant he's extraordinary to the present time and among humans, with his creativity. Pele is out of normal patterns and I'm not saying this because I'm a Brazilian. You can't find a defect. If somebody comes to me and starts to make comparisons, for me it has no credibility."
Tite and Messi were recently involved in a touchline spat during which the Barcelona forward told the former to "shut up".
Messi was making his first appearance for Argentina since his three-month ban - handed out after the 32-year-old accused the CONMEBOL of corruption - was lifted and celebrating by scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory over Tite's side.
