John Giles says Jimmy Greaves' finishing bears similarities with Lionel Messi.
John played against the prolific former Tottenham, Chelsea, AC Milan and England striker, who suffered a stroke recently, during his career and although he says Messi was superior outside the box, he lauded Greaves' abilities in the area on Off The Ball tonight.
"The quality he had in scoring goals was very similar to Messi. He wasn't as good outside the box as Messi. But when it came to finishing ... left-footed, very quick, made the goals look a mile wide," said John.
"I played against him quite a few times and one of the first times I played against him, I was playing for Manchester United in the semi-final of the Cup in 1962, the year after Spurs won the double. They got a free-kick in the old right-half position. Danny Blanchflower took a quick free-kick over the top and Greaves was through. So as a midfield player, I'm running back and I can see everything in front of me and as he's approaching the goalkeeper, it looked like the goalkeeper was outside the post and the goal looked a mile wide. I was thinking there was nowhere else he can put it and he stroked it with the left foot, which he did regularly."
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
John gave his take on Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich game-plan and Lionel Messi's brilliance both last night and overall during his career.
"I've very seldom seen Messi play where he doesn't play the right pass," he said.
Meanwhile, he feels sorry for Newcastle caretaker manager John Carver, who he sees as "out of his depth", but not culpable for the ills at the club.
He also contrasted Carver with Nigel Pearson, who John says has "lost the plot" with the media, but significantly not with his Leicester players.
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