Although it’s likely to sound a bit odd now but an old text reveals that a younger Lionel Messi initially felt insecure when Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed for Barcelona in 2009.
Ibrahimovic had joined the Catalan club after scoring 29 goals in 47 games during his final season with Inter Milan and was then regarded as one of the world’s best centre-forwards at the time. And although Messi carried the same tag, the young Argentine hadn’t yet won the first of his six Ballon d’Or awards at that juncture as it would be another couple of years before football fans began debating where Messi sat among Pele and Diego Maradona in the pantheon of all-time greats.
Back in 2009, then Barça boss Pep Guardiola made a switch to offload Samuel Eto’o in a lucrative swap deal involving Ibrahimovic, with the La Liga giants also forking out an additional £57 million for the charismatic Swedish superstar, who was then 27 years old.
Ultimately it turned out to be a deal that backfired on Guardiola as the revered coach had a big fallout with Ibrahimovic, who scored 22 goals in 46 matches for the club in spectacular fashion but the striker was sent on loan to AC Milan after one season at Camp Nou.
The question that begged to be asked is – was Ibrahimovic’s premature end at Barça in any way attributable to Messi?
The awkward answer is embedded in the Swedish striker’s autobiography, ‘I am Zlatan’, wherein he wrote:
“[Pep] preferred to make Messi happy – he didn’t value me.”
Guardiola had then indeed opted to move Messi positionally from the right flank to a more central position at Ibrahimovic’s expense, and the young Argentine justified his coach’s faith him by scoring 47 goals in 53 games during the 2009-10 campaign.
But the fact that Ibrahimovic said Guardiola preferred to make Messi ‘happy’ goes give food for thought. Was Pep’s action the result of a text message the former Barcelona manager received from his young star player following Ibrahimovic’s highly-heralded arrival that could possibly have spooked even such a player as Messi?
A 2012 book titled ‘The Messi Mystery’ by Sebastian Fest and Alex Juillard – per Goal.com – claims a concerned Messi had sent Pep a text message while sitting on the Barcelona coach. Apparently, according to the book, unable to express himself with open communication with Pep, Messi instead typed a short message to his boss, making known his feelings.
Spanish football writer Ben Hayward wrote:
“The exact wording of Messi’s message is disputed, but the sentiment straightforward. ‘I can see that I am no longer important to the team, so …’
“Unlike his perfect plays on the pitch, Messi had left this one unfinished.”
Messi had actually begun to question his role at the club after Zlatan joined the team after two disappointing performances at the start of the 2009-10 season.
“The appearance of Ibrahimovic, a signing with which Guardiola had persisted, had been bad news for Leo,” the book states.
“Messi knew it and started to make his feelings known to a coach who had won him over by giving him the green light to play for Argentina at the Olympic Games in Beijing. But this time there was danger; Messi had failed to shine in a few games and Ibrahimovic was playing well. Suddenly, there were complications for the Argentine.”
It’s surmised that the text message could have prompted Guardiola, who had always been acutely aware of Messi’s extraordinary talent and abilities, some serious food for thought, which could finally have contributed to his sudden decision to move Messi centrally on the pitch, allowing the Argentine international to flourish in a False 9 role.
Ibrahimovic, alternatively, became increasingly frazzled as the season wore on and infamously lashed out at his coach shortly after Barcelona were beaten by Jose Mourinho’s Inter in the Champions League.
“You have no balls!” Zlatan screamed at Guardiola. “You are s**t scared of Mourinho!”
This altercation unfortunately was the last straw that broke the camel’s back for the Swede at Barcelona.
Messi, as history would prove, went on to become the club’s greatest ever player and arguably the best footballer in history.
And he is still doing that magnificently.