Football and Philosophy

The best player in world football?

On thinking about who is better than who when it comes to football, how subjective are our lists? Where is the line drawn between a player being objectively better than a player and a player being better "in your opinion"? For example, Lionel Messi is a better player than Nani. There isn't a person in the world who will say otherwise. Therefore it's safe to say that Messi being better than Nani is a fact and not mere opinion, is it not? And so if we can say that in relation to these two players, shouldn't we be able to say it in relation to any two players, provided they play in similar positions? There may not be as big as gap as there is between Messi and Nani, but there should still be a way to say that X is better than Y in all cases. If there is not, then can't someone argue that Nani is better than Messi and not be wrong? Can't they just say that it's your opinion against mine, and neither of us can be right and neither of us can be wrong?

I write this as I try to decide who is better - Xavi or Iniesta, and as I think about my list of top 5 footballers. When it comes to football, where does fact end and opinion begin? Or perhaps fact never ends, and our opinions are either in line with the facts or they are not. Or perhaps there are no facts of the matter at all, and it is all opinion, with one man's Messi being another man's Nani.