5 managers under whom Lionel Messi has made the most appearances

Lionel Messi has had a stellar career for club and country.

Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the best players to have graced the beautiful game.

During a stellar career for club and country, he has scored 759 goals, and won several big titles and individual accolades. The seven-time Ballon d'Or and eight-time Pichichi winner is the all-time top scorer for Barcelona (672 goals) and Argentina (80 goals).

The PSG attacker has had a slow start to life in Paris since joining the club last summer. Messi has netted only twice in 13 league games, but has dished out seven assists. In the Champions League this season, he has scored five times in as many games.

Over the years, the Copa America 2021 winner has played under a lot of world-class managers. On that note, here's a look at five managers under whom Messi has played most games for club and country:

Note: All stats are as per Transfermarkt unless mentioned otherwise.

#5 Ronald Koeman - 47

Ronald Koeman managed Messi (left) in his lone season in charge of Barcelona.

Ronald Koeman managed Lionel Messi for only one season - 2020-21 - in what was also the Argentine superstar's last campaign at Barcelona.

After a slow start, Messi produced another stellar campaign, scoring 38 goals across competitions. That included three strikes in the Copa Del Rey, the only title Koeman won as manager at the Camp Nou.

2 - Ronald Koeman 🇳🇱 (2008 for Valencia and 2021 for @FCBarcelona) is the second manager to win his first two Copa del Rey finals in the 21st century, after Luis Enrique Martínez 🇪🇸 (2015, 2016 and 2017). Confidence. https://t.co/4892CzRF8h

Praising the Argentine for his level of dedication and professionalism, Koeman said:

"Lionel Messi has obscured everything. He was so good and he won. Of course he had good players around him, but he made the difference. Everyone seems better than they are because of him. This is not a criticism, but an observation."

The Dutchman continued about the PSG star:

"I knew how good he is, but it's still nice to see it up close every day. Everything you would like to teach a football player, in recognising situations, in taking the ball under pressure, in ball speed, in finishing; with Messi everything is a 10; not normal, not normal!"

He signed off by saying:

"When we did a finishing practice during training, there were sometimes players who started to hit easy balls, a bit of fooling around. But with Messi everything was: boom, boom, boom, boom. Never frills, everything functional. And always wanted to win everything."

#4 Frank Rijkaard - 110

Frank Rijkaard (right) managed Messi in over 100 games.

Frank Rijkaard is one of only four managers to have managed Lionel Messi for over a hundred games.

After a difficult start to his Barcelona tenure in 2003-04, Rijkaard took the team to a top-two finish. The Blaugrana fared better in their next two campaigns. They won the league title in 2004-05 before completing the La Liga-Champions League double the following season.

It was Rijkaard who gave the then 17-year-old Messi his first-team debut in 2004-05. Soon, the Argentine became a first-team regular, and there would be no looking back from there. Messi has no qualms admitting that the Dutchman has had the biggest impact on his career, saying:

"I think the most important in my career was Rikjaard. If he hadn't trusted in me and not decided to put me in the first team first to train and then play my first match, maybe I wouldn't have made it to the first team."

Messi added:

"I always said that he was for me a very important person, because he trusted in me, put me in at the right time, picked me to play for the first team and that was very important for me."

Leo Messi: "All the coaches I had at first left me things, but I think the most important thing in my career was Rijkaard. If Rijkaard had not decided to get me in the first team to train and play perhaps I had never reached the first team."

#WeAreMessi https://t.co/MIpHVBS6vs

By the time Rijkaard left at the end of the 2007-08 campaign, Lionel Messi was the crown jewel of the team, having contributed 42 goals to announce his arrival.