Dribbles over drives as Dada, Didi & Pele bond

KOLKATA: When the 'King' is around, can the 'Prince' be far behind?
With Pele sitting beside him during an interaction with the media at a city hotel on Monday, Sourav Ganguly -the Prince of Kolkata -could not resist assuming the role of a reporter himself.
For a country like India, where the standard of football does not match its popularity, what should be the way forward? Sourav asked the Brazilian legend.
"Start at the base," pat came the reply from Pele. "Get the players to come out of their home base and play outside. Give them foreign exposure. That is how they will learn," the three-time World Cup winner reasoned. "What about the infrastructure?" Sourav pressed on. "Of course, it's necessary. Infrastructure is what gives your base the right footing," the legend replied.
The obvious question then came. Will there ever be another Pele? The legend didn't mince his words. "Every generation has great players. I saw and played with many of them -Cruyff, Best, Beckenbauer, Maradona, Ronaldo and Zico. In the last 10 years, Messi and Ronaldo have been the best. Everywhere I go, I am asked if there will be another Pele. I say that my mother and father have closed the machine, so there can't be another Pele," said the legend amid peals of laughter.
With football having undergone a sea change since he retired, the obvious question was whether he would be successful in modern football, when the game has become more physical and less skillful.
Pele tackled the question with the same grace and poise which he had made him the most feared player of his time. "Had Beethoven been born today, would he not have been as good?" Pele shot back. "Of course, he would have been good because God gave him the gift to be a musician. With me it was the same," Pele quipped.
The session was kicked off with Mamata cutting a ceremonial cake to observe Pele's 75th birthday, 10 days ahead of the big bash. Composer AR Rehman, who has scored the tune for a biopic on Pele, hummed the happy birthday tune. "We are proud to have Pele in our city. It's Pele who triggered Bengalis' love for football," she added.
"I had the opportunity to play with a lot of excellent players. There was Bobby Moore (who led England to the 1966 World Cup triumph). But I believe, in last 10 years Messi has been the best. Ronaldo plays as a forward and tries to score while Messi plays with a different style. I would love to have both in my team.. We have Neymar who also has good future."
Asked about the greatest Brazilian player he's seen, Pele said: "It's unfair to identify any particular individual. I played with a lot of excellent players since started playing for Brazil at the age of 17. Everybody said Pele was fantastic. But there was Didi, Vava, Garrincha and many others. It's difficult to say who was the best. Later, there was Zico."
And the best coach? Pele vote went to Mario Zagallo of his 1970 World Cup winning side, who also won the coveted prize as a player in 1958 and 1962. "Best coach wants to have the best team. Sometimes the coach is good but team fails to deliver.