Lionel Messi wants to leave Barcelona.
Even after writing those words several times in the last few days, he still hasn’t assimilated.
The Argentine has been at Barça for two decades and has established himself as the best player who has ever played this sport.
Watching him play in a club jersey other than Barcelona’s red and blue will take some getting used to.
While we are more than happy to call him the best of all time, Barcelona fans don’t even consider him the best ever to play for the Spanish club. Not seriously.
More than 73,000 votes have been cast on ranker.com, asking fans to rank the best Barcelona players of all time.
And Messi IS NOT at number 1. Crazy.
So who is in the top 20 and where in the world does Messi rank?
We’ll see:
20 | Marc-Andre ter Stegen
The current Barcelona goalkeeper signed for the club in 2014 and has established himself as one of the great goalkeepers in world football.
19 | Sergio Busquets
The 32-year-old may not have a future at the club under Ronald Koeman, but he has given the club an incredible 12 years of service.
18 | Pep Guardiola
The man who could tempt Messi to leave Barcelona, would that see Guardiola lose his legendary status at the Camp Nou? As a player, he played nearly 400 times, winning six league titles.
17 | Michael Laudrup
Laudrup was at Barcelona for only five seasons before moving to Real Madrid. However, he won four league titles at the club.
16 | Gheorghe Hagi
A legendary player, but does he deserve to be in the top 20 for playing just two seasons and making 51 appearances? Probably not.
15 | Dani alves
The Brazilian right-back enjoyed eight seasons at the Camp Nou and had an incredible relationship with Messi. Alves had six league titles and three Champions League titles to show for his efforts.
14 | Luis Suarez
Koeman has told Suárez that he can leave the club. The Barça fans will not forget the 198 goals he has scored in 283 games for the club.
13 | Samuel Eto’o
Five seasons, 130 goals, three Leagues and two Champions. Not bad, Samuel.
12 | Ronald Koeman
The current coach of the club. He became a legend during his six seasons in Catalonia, scoring 67 goals in 192 games.
11 | Diego Maradona
One of the best players to play the game? Undoubtedly.
One of the best players in Barcelona? Probably not.
Maradona spent two seasons at Barça, scoring 38 goals in 58 games. It certainly wasn’t a bad comeback, but it was only when he moved to Naples that he became one of the best ever.
10 | Rivaldo
Rivaldo never spent too long at one club, but he lasted five years at Barça. Who can forget his incredible header against Valencia to complete a hat-trick and seal the Champions League qualification in 2001? He finished his Barca career with an impressive 130 goals in 235 appearances. Unfortunately, he did not achieve a league title during that time.
9 | Romario
Another situation where perhaps the general state of the player has influenced the vote.
Romario was brilliant and produced an incredible debut season by scoring 30 goals in 33 La Liga appearances.
But things fell apart during his second season and he left 18 appearances in the 1994/95 season.
8 | Ronaldo
Imagine spending just one season at a club and being voted their eighth best player of all time. Well, that’s the case with Ronaldo, who scored 47 goals in 49 games for Barça before signing for Inter Milan.
7 | Carles Puyol
Puyol may be falling down this list after showing his support for Messi for wanting to leave the club. However, during his playing career, he played nearly 600 times for the club and was the club’s captain for nearly 10 years.
6 | Xavi
Only the 767 games and the 25 trophies of Barcelona. He will almost certainly become the club’s manager at some point in his coaching career.
5 | Andres Iniesta
Iniesta got seven more trophies in Barcelona than Xavi. Perhaps that is why he ranks slightly above his midfield partner.
How good were those two together by the way?
4 | Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho was the best player on the planet during his time at Barcelona. The magical Brazilian scored 94 goals during his five seasons and brought a smile to all football fans who were lucky enough to witness him.
3 | Johan cruyff
The three-time Ballon d’Or winner was probably more successful during his years at Ajax than at Barça. But he certainly had a huge impact on the club during his five seasons, despite only winning one league title. A revolutionary figure who would go on to lead the club for eight years, winning four more La Ligas.
2 | Lionel messi
Than? Is Messi only at number 2 ?!
How the heck can the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who has scored 634 goals and won 33 trophies, possibly be in second place?
He is not even in second place among the best players who have ever played, much less at Barcelona …
1 | Hristo stoichkov
So… Barça fans have voted Stoichkov the best club player of all time.
Look, we don’t want to take anything away from the mythical Bulgarian, but better than Messi? Probably not.
Stoichkov initially spent five years at the club with the forward scoring 107 goals in 214 appearances. Not exactly Messi numbers.
He then returned to Barça in 1996 and could only manage nine goals in 41 games.
What’s that noise? Oh, just Leo Messi laughing to himself …
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