Atlanta Soccer News: Art, Music and Culture: Pele has claimed that the Santos team he played for was far better than Barcelona's current crop of talent.

Barcelona is the reigning La Liga and Champions League winner, but the outspoken Brazilian believes Pep Guardiola's men need to show their class for an extended period of time before they can be compared with the great teams of the past.

"I take my hat off to Barcelona, but my Santos team were something else," the 71-year-old is reported as saying by Sport. "You cannot compare the two teams because Barcelona are an emerging force and my Santos team were top for 15 years, it is clear my Santos were much better."

However, the former striker was in doubt about the Catalan club's Lionel Messi being a better player than Santos' current gem, Neymar.

"Neymar has become known in Europe in the last few years while Lionel Messi has been at the top for a long time now," he added.

Pele spent 18 years at Santos, scoring 589 goals for the club in 605 official appearances.