Lionel Messi - Top 5 Coaches In Leo's Career
Working with the greatest player in history as a trainer is something most managers will wish happened to them in their careers. Players like Lionel Messi only come once in an era.
Therefore, managing a person like the Argentine superstar is a very remarkable occurrence to most managers. To some, it is a dream come true and only few will realize this dream in their entire life.
In the past few years, we have seen many world-class, intelligent tactical geniuses and reputed personalities taking up the role of managing the football wizard.
From Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, Frank Rijkaard, Eduardo Bauza, Jorge Sampaoli, Luis Enrique and Gerardo Martino, we look at 5 big-name managers who have coached the Barca Legend in their careers.
#5 Jorge Sampaoli
A friend and a foe, is what describes the relationship between Jorge Sampaoli and Lionel Messi. The coach has led many teams against the Argentine superstar in recent years including denting his hopes of winning the Copa America in 2015, when his Chile team defeated Argentina in the final.
He faced the Barca legend again last year during his spell with the Spanish team, Sevilla. Although, people believe that they had a healthy inter-personal relationship
Jorge Sampaoli is one of the biggest names to train the player. They started working together since June 1, 2017, when the Argentina FA presented their coach officially. In fact, it was believed that Sampaoli influenced Messi to come out of retirement after the player declared he wasn't going to play for the Nation in 2016.
The coach was faced with a serious problem in his early times with the team, as Argentina risked their World Cup qualification. He had only one match left and needed a victory to qualify.
Then he called on the Mighty Messi to help him out. The playmaker scored a vital hat-trick against Ecuador to ensure that Sampaoli's men made it to Russia. This is a big achievement for his side considering how much the team suffered to make it to the World Cup.