With Messi being a freak of nature, any player including Pele , Maradona and now CR7 would be under his shadow. But let’s assume,Messi somehow does not exist, how would CR7 be viewed? Would he be the undisputed greatest like Micheal Jordon for football, considering all the league titles and champions league he lost to Messi’s Barcelona.
He’d be similar to where he is- he’d get compared to Pele or Maradona. The thing with the “GOAT” debate is that it will always be debated- people have different preferences based on what’s happened in the past or whatever.
Let’s not forget than until his WC win some Argentinians would argue that Maradona was a better player than Messi; it’s a very subjective debate.