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Playing alongside Lionel Messi is a dream for most footballers but some of them have really suffered due to his presence.
Securing a move to Barcelona has often been viewed as the pinnacle of a footballer's career. But as we've seen in recent times, dream switches don't always work out. Players can struggle at big clubs due to a variety of reasons and chief among them is not being able to get along with the other individuals you share the pitch with.
Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest player of all time. He has been pivotal to Barcelona's success in the 21st century. Naturally, the club will be more accommodative to Lionel Messi than anyone else and this has manifested itself in some unpleasant ways.
In fact, there are quite a few players who have suffered at Barcelona due to Lionel Messi's presence. Here, we take a look at five players whose careers have suffered because of the Argentine legend.
5 players whose careers suffered due to Lionel Messi
#5 Pedro
Back when La Masia was still churning out world-class youngsters regularly, Barcelona were so stocked with quality players that fresh graduates had to choose between leaving the club and waiting on the sidelines for a chance.
The greatest victim of this is perhaps Pedro. Pedro broke into the senior team in 2008 and it was around that time that Barcelona re-established their dominance in Europe. Even though Pedro had serious quality, he was always viewed as a utility player. He was pushed around for seven seasons until he finally left.
Pedro was a natural right-winger. He also liked to play as a striker but since Lionel Messi had his eyes on both those positions, Pedro never really got the chance to consistently play for Barcelona. Pedro's quality shone through as he won the Premier League title with Chelsea in his first year in England.
#4 Alexis Sanchez
Sanchez arrived at Barcelona as a young player who was full of tricks and could run rings around defenders all day long. He also packed genuine pace and once he got beyond defenders, there was no catching him.
However, we never got to see the best of Alexis Sanchez at Barcelona as he was constantly in Lionel Messi's shadow. As evidenced by his stint at Arsenal, which was hugely successful on a personal note, Sanchez works best when he is allowed the freedom of the final third and is given the license to take risks.
However, the Chilean was asked to play a whole different game at Barcelona. He had to play a lot deeper and pass the ball around as the Catalans were masters of the tiki-take style of football under Pep Guardiola.
Sanchez's best season at Barcelona was his final one, where Lionel Messi spent a considerable amount of time on the sidelines through injury. Sanchez was Barcelona's second highest goalscorer but continued to be underappreciated at the club.
There are also rumors that suggest an altercation broke out between Messi and Sanchez as the former was miffed with the latter's propensity to take on defenders and test the goalkeeper from range.
Sanchez decided to call it quits on his Barcelona career shortly afterwards and went on to become one of the Premier League's most lethal attackers at Arsenal.
#3 Samuel Eto'o
Samuel Eto'o has not exactly been an easy player to manage or get along with as indicated by his multiple run-ins with managers and players in his career. He has had problems with Frank Rijkaard, Ronaldinho and Jose Mourinho. But none of them have come close to the problems he has had with Pep Guardiola.
Samuel Eto'o was a vital cog for Barcelona and was prolific in front of goal. He was a hard worker as well. He played a big hand in the Catalans winning the treble in the 2008-09 season, which was also Pep Guardiola's first season in charge.
After clashing with Pep Guardiola, Eto'o started being sidelined as Lionel Messi demanded a more central role. It was hard to find fault with Messi's goalscoring rates and it eventually got to the point where Eto'o had to leave the club because he understood he was not going to be afforded chances.
Given the rate at which he was scoring goals for Barcelona, it's criminal that he got pushed aside the way he was. Eto'o asked for a better contract but his request was rejected and since he was inclined towards airing his dirty laundry in the press, he was forced out.
#2 David Villa
David Villa is arguably the finest striker in the history of the Spanish football team. When he and Fernando Torres were at their peak, there was no stopping La Roja. However, he wouldn't be allowed the freedom to replicate those heroics to the fullest extent at Barcelona and Lionel Messi had a lot to do with it.
David Villa's problems with Lionel Messi were identical to that of many of his predecessors. With Messi wanting to play as the central striker, Villa was pushed out to the wings. He thrived there too thanks to his obvious quality. However, Lionel Messi wanted more mobile players playing on the flanks and Villa's stocks suffered a major drop.
He even won the UEFA Champions League once and the La Liga title twice in his three-year stint at Barcelona.
Always a team man and a great professional, David Villa never spoke ill of his teammates or his situation at Barcelona. He subsequently moved to Atletico Madrid and proved his quality by winning La Liga with the Rojiblancos in his first season there.
#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a habitual winner and has played for a multitude of European giants throughout his illustrious career. The Swede was signed by Barcelona in 2009 from Inter Milan for Samuel Eto'o and another €45 million.
Ibrahimovic hit the ground running after securing his dream move but his form deteriorated quite quickly and he ended up being loaned out to AC Milan after two seasons.
Ibrahimovic was at his best for Barcelona when he was deployed as the central striker. However, that changed when Lionel Messi insisted that he be played as the main striker. Subsequently, Ibra was moved to a wider role and he was not pleased at all. He even had altercations with Pep Guardiola over the same.
Later, in his autobiography Zlatan opened up about his struggles at Barcelona. He wrote:
"It was a childhood dream and I was walking on air, it started well but then Messi started to talk. He wanted to play in the middle, not on the wing, so the system changed from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1. I was sacrificed and no longer had the freedom on the pitch I need to succeed."
