Barcelona captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen has confirmed rumours that his relationship with legendary forward Lionel Messi was not always at its best. The Argentine was the captain before the German, and the pair spent eight years at the club together, but the latter has confirmed that the relationship between the two was not always at its best.
Speaking on Phrasenmaeher, ter Stegen explained that when he was rubbed the wrong way, Messi was capable of showing up others on the training ground in a manner that few could.
“He’s probably the only player who can put a ball at your face if he wants. He has that ability. Others would shoot elsewhere; he could hit the target. He’s done it several times. Where did that anger come from? You’ll have to ask him (…). If he wants to make you look bad, he could,” he told BILD’s podcast, as quoted by Diario AS.
The pair were rumoured to have clashed at times during their latter years together in the lead up to Messi’s exit in 2022, with ter Stegen feeling that perhaps the team did not work hard enough at the other end of the pitch. The current Barcelona captain more or less confirmed as much.
“Messi gets motivation from many things that we don’t. We’ve had times when things didn’t work out between us because he was annoyed with me and I was annoyed with him.”
“We never argued, it’s not to say that we didn’t get along at all. But we had our moments, and that’s fine. We were together in the dressing room for a long time, and it was definitely interesting to have him on the team and see how he leads. Whether or not it’s my style, it was interesting to watch. Leo doesn’t have a big mouth; he works hard with presence and needs to say relatively little, to be honest. And when he says something, everyone listens. And that’s what you really want to achieve as a captain: to be listened to and followed.”
It is not unusual for personalities to clash in the dressing room, especially after such a long time together, although these divides can cause issues for team spirit and on the pitch. Messi’s reign at Barcelona often saw the club follow his wishes, although he has always denied a leading role in the club’s decision-making.
Shmonny
192
Declan Rice does a Messi celebration 🤩 When your GOAT is Messi you are destined to thrash Real Madrid 😎
elkay23
69
Messi is the G.O.A.T
Ziwbcdeksu
22
I know why messi was angry with you, u been making the team effort looking useless with the careless goals u always conced on important matches
pasacdinpu
16
when you're as bad as ter stegen, yes Messi has every right to make you look bad because that's what you are Mr ter statue. I don't even know where this your boldness is coming from. without you in that goal posts all these years we would have had far better chances of winning more UCL. yes you are a horrible goalkeeper with one off great games. Messi had every right to make everybody on that team look bad because he was the only one doing the job. now he's gone you're talking as if you're a world class goalie. in your absence see how much better we have become. a retiree has literally done far better than you have ever been in the past 10 years and you're having the courage to talk 😂😂