5 players you didn’t know played with Lionel Messi

#3 Giovanni van Bronckhorst

Giovanni van Bronckhorst was one of the best Dutch footballers in the opening decade of the 21st century. Bronckhorst joined Barcelona in 2003 on loan from Arsenal and then went on to make his stay permanent.

Bronckhorst stayed at Barcelona for four seasons in total and was a regular for the first-team when Lionel Messi was still being gently integrated into the first-team. Under Frank Rijkaard, Bronckhorst shone and played some of the finest football he has in his career.

Bronckhorst won two back-to-back La Liga titles and the UEFA Champions League with Barcelona before eventually leaving the club to join Feyenoord in 2007.

#2 Lilian Thuram

Gianluca Zambrotta (L) and Lilian Thuram

Legendary French defender Lilian Thuram has enjoyed an extremely successful career, winning the World Cup and several other top-flight titles across France, Italy and Spain. Thuram spent his final years as a professional footballer at Barcelona.

He joined Barcelona after Juventus were shockingly relegated to the Serie B. Way past his prime, Thuram started serving Barcelona as the third or fourth-choice centre-back behind Carles Puyol, Rafael Marquez and Gabriel Milito.

Thuram could slot in at right-back and centre-back and interestingly enough, he has played alongside Lionel Messi during his two-year stint at the Camp Nou. Thuram had to call it quits on his football career after he was diagnosed with a heart defect that had caused the death of his brother.

#1 Mark van Bommel

Mark van Bommel is considered a Bayern Munich legend and rightfully so. He spent his best years in Germany and most people even forget that he was a first team regular for Barcelona albeit for just one season.

Mark van Bommel joined Barcelona in the summer of 2005 and left for Bayern Munich at the end of the 2005-06 season. He enjoyed a highly successful year at the Camp Nou as the Catalans went on to win the La Liga title, the UEFA Champions League title and the Supercopa de Espana.

The Dutchman was rotated with the other talented Barcelona midfielders like Xavi, Deco, Iniesta and Motta and he impressed in a holding role. He played 24 La Liga matches for Barcelona and appeared in 12 cup games as well.

Mark van Bommel was thus an important part of the Barcelona squad back when Lionel Messi was still trying to make a mark, and was largely coming off the bench as a substitute.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith