“I have won a trophy that you will never have” - When Ivan Rakitic opened up on teasing Lionel Messi at Barcelona
Former Barcelona star Ivan Rakitic once shared a hilarious instance of how he teased Lionel Messi during their time playing together for the Blaugrana. In a 2021 interview with La Liga TV, Rakitic revealed that he told Messi about one trophy that he had won which the Argentine will never win.
"I was speaking to Messi and I said: ‘you've won it all, you've scored all these goals, but I have won a trophy you’ll never have…you’ll never win the Europa League," Rakitic said (via Instagram/@leo_era.10).
Rakitic was clearly right about this, as Lionel Messi never played in the Europa League during his time at Europe in Barca or Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). It is unlikely that he will ever play in the tournament again now, while Rakitic has won the tournament twice with Sevilla in 2014 and 2023.
There's little doubt about Lionel Messi's unparalleled legacy at Barcelona. The Argentine won three Champions League trophies (as per UEFA's website), 10 La Liga titles, and seven Copa del Rey, among other honors. In 778 appearances, Messi scored 672 goals and 269 assists for the Blaugrana and is widely considered their greatest legend of all time.
When Messi played for the Catalan giants, they never finished below the third place in the La Liga table and hence were never relegated to the Europa League. However, following his departure in 2021, they have played in the Europa League two times.
When Ivan Rakitic believed Lionel Messi was not the best captain at Barcelona
In an interview in April this year via Diario AS, Ivan Rakitic claimed that although Lionel Messi is the best in history, he was not always the best captain for Barcelona. The Argentine served as the Blaugrana captain between 2018 to 2021.
“Messi is the best in history, and if he put his mind to it, he could be the best left back in the world if he wanted to! Although he was sometimes not the best captain to tell you what you had to do, that was because he was unique and different,” Rakitic said.
Rakitic and Messi played together for the Catalan giants between 2014 to 2020. They shared the pitch in 277 games together with 27 joint-goal contributions.
The Croatian midfielder moved on to join La Liga club Sevilla after his stint at Barca. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi left Barcelona as a free agent and joined PSG in 2021.