- Lionel Messi has emerged the greatest sportsperson of all-time after an online poll
- The Argentine saw off the likes of Phil Taylor, Michael Phelps, and Tom Brady in the first round
- Messi and Muhammad Ali meet in the semis and the Barca captain came out tops with 65% while the boxer scored 32% of total votes
Lionel Messi has been voted the greatest sportsman of all-time after emerging tops in an online poll conducted by reliable sports website Give Me Football.
According to the channels report, the polls which had been on over the past week, saw 16 sporting individuals including Messi were placed into four separate groups, with the winner and runner up from each group making it to the semis before the final where the winner was decided.
Some of the nominees listed for group one include the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Roger Federer, Floyd Mayweather and Serena Williams.
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The second group had Phil Taylor, Michael Phelps, Tom Brady and Lionel Messi in a fierce battle.
In group three, Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo, Martina Navratilova and Michael Jordan held sway.
And in the fourth group LeBron James, Michael Schumacher, Pele and Muhammad Ali were listed.
At the end, Federer, who progressed to the next round is regarded as one of the world’s greatest athletes after claiming 20 Grand Slams, including success stories at tour finals as well as the Olympics.
In the second group, Barcelona superstar emerged tops with a total haul of 75% of the votes, making the Argentine one of the top contenders for the award.
From the third group, Ronaldo beat the likes of Phelps and Brady to emerge group winner.
Boxing great Muhammad Ali won group four with 52% of the vote. Apart from his feat in the ring, Ali also fought against tackled societal vices which contributed in making him a sporting legend.
After the battle for semi-final placing, Messi and Ali came through their respective groups with 65% and 32% of total votes.
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But in the final challenge, Messi who claimed the top spot with 51% of the 240,800 votes on Facebook, emerged the greatest sportsperson of all-time
On the other hand, Messi also won the same poll on Twitter with 53%-47%, to see the Argentine claim double victory.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Jorge Sampaoli, Argentina's Russia 2018 World Cup coach revealed that Lionel Messi "suffers a lot" when he wears his national colors because he cannot show the world how good he is.
Sampaoli who currently coaches Brazilian league side Santos, made the comments during the “We Are Football 2019 - Coaches and Tactics” conference organised by the Brazilian Football Confederation.
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Source: Legit.ng
