Leo Messi hat-trick against the New England Revolution in the Herons’ 6-2 win on October 19 made him the club’s all-time leading scorer – with 33 goals – surpassing teammate Leonardo Campana – on 32 strikes.
Although Campana is one of Messi’s most talented current teammates, the 2022 World Cup winner has had the pleasure of sharing a pitch with some of the best players of the past two decades.
Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez have joined Messi in Florida, forming a legendary line-up.
However, there were several other names in Messi’s ‘top ten’.
“I was lucky to play for a long time at Barcelona… with many of the best players,” Messi told Titan Sports in 2023.
“Like Ronaldinho, Deco, [Samuel] Eto’o, [Luis] Suarez, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, [Sergio] Busquets, I was lucky enough to play with the best players and enjoy the game with them.
“Speaking of which, I almost forgot about Neymar because there are so many people.”
Neymar has spoken highly about Messi in the past despite joining PSG from Barcelona in 2017, with his move to the French capital considered to be an attempt to step out of the Argentine’s shadow by some fans.
Ironically, Messi then joined the Brazilian at PSG in 2022.
Messi continued naming several other world-class footballers in his list.
“There must be many players I forgot to mention,” Messi added.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play with the best players, with the best strikers.
“Like Neymar, [Samuel] Eto’o, [Luis] Suarez, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and [David] Villa and many more.
“I’ve been comfortable playing with all of them, or almost all of them, because I’ve been lucky enough to play with the best of them… playing with them is easy.”
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner also waxed lyrical about former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola.
