Lionel Messi has been the headline maker for the media agencies for his entire career and most of it has been positive as the Argentine has enjoyed unparalleled success throughout his career but this time around, it isn’t Lionel but his brother, Matias Messi that has made the headlines after a bold statement he recently gave on Twitch.
Messi’s brother spoke about Barcelona before Messi 😮 pic.twitter.com/aOPz8o4OrP
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 8, 2023
Lionel Messi’s elder brother Matias Messi recently was heard talking about FC Barcelona on the live streaming platform Twitch. The 40-year-old has upset millions of fans around the world as he called FC Barcelona a small club before Lionel played for them and further said that they were recognized as a big club only after Messi played for them.
He said: “For me Barcelona became known because of Messi, nobody knew about them before”.
Fans could be seen voicing their opinions against the statement and one fan thought that Matias’s statements were disreputable to the club which had a history before Lionel Messi as many great players like Rivaldo, Luis Figo, Diego Maradona featured for the club much before Lionel Messi.
The fan wrote: “That’s disreputable to the club……..”
That’s disreputable to the club……..
— Jojo DNC 🤎 (@JojoDnc) February 8, 2023
Another fan suggested that it was Ronaldinho who gave Barcelona the recognition while Lionel Messi was handed the baton by the Brazillian superstar. They suggested that Messi took over the team when it had already been established as one of the best clubs in the world.
They wrote: “Ronaldinho made Barcelona, gave them a UCL and recognition. Messi took over once the team was already known as a Giant.”
It seems that Matias’s comments haven’t gone down well with FC Barcelona fans who think their club had a history before Lionel Messi. Let us now take a look at Barcelona’s honors before Messi’s debut.
FC Barcelona’s achievements before Lionel Messi joined the club
FC Barcelona was founded in 1899 and has been a top club in European football for the better part of the last century. It has been home to numerous world-class players like Johan Cruyff, Ronaldo Nazario, Diego Maradona, and Ronaldinho over the years.
FC Barcelona have been one of the best clubs in Spain having won 26 La Liga titles which are second only to Real Madrid and 16 of these titles were won by the Catalan club before Lionel Messi appeared on the scene, they won a further 10 with the Argentine World Champion.
Barcelona had also won a European Club Champions’ Cup and two UEFA Super Cups before Lionel Messi made his debut for the club. FC Barcelona has won the Copa Del Rey a record 31 times and they won 24 of these, which is more than half without Lionel Messi.
It is true that Lionel Messi took FC Barcelona to another level winning 34 trophies with the club and taking them to the highest levels of European soccer but it is very disrespectful to say that the club was nothing before Messi as has been said by Lionel Messi’s brother.
Discussion about this post