Where are they now? Lionel Messi’s 10 favourite teammates from his career
Lionel Messi has shared the pitch with some legendary footballers from Barcelona to PSG to Inter Miami today, but which did he most enjoy linking up with?
Back in 2023, Messi was asked by Chinese outlet Titan Sports who he most enjoyed playing alongside. He responded with 10 names.
We’ve checked in on where these 10 greats of the game are today.
Ronaldinho
Messi has often spoken about what it meant to share a pitch with the great Brazilian Ballon d’Or winner when he was first breaking through at Barcelona.
After leaving Barca when Pep Guardiola took charge in the summer of 2008, Ronaldinho spent a few years at AC Milan before lifting further silverware back in Brazil with Flamengo and Atletico Mineiro.
The 44-year-old retired in 2015 after a short stint with Fluminense but is still spotted back on the pitch in legends charity matches. He seems to be enjoying his post-football life, as it always felt like he would.
Deco
As well as serving as an agent to stars including Raphinha, Deco has served as Barcelona’s sporting director since 2023.
He hadn’t yet been appointed to the role when Messi chose Inter Miami over a return to the Camp Nou that summer, but he maintains a close relationship with his former team-mate and has teased some kind of reunion one day.
“Messi will definitely play a farewell game at Barcelona, but when that will be, we don’t know,” Deco told Brazilian outlet Lance in 2023.
“He will always be the greatest idol in the club’s history. The club had great idols, like [Johan] Cruyff, Ronaldo, but he is perhaps the greatest of all.”
QUIZ: Can you name all 27 players who have played alongside both Messi and Ronaldo?
Samuel Eto’o
After peaking with a ridiculous achievement of winning back-to-back trebles with two different clubs, Eto’o’s journeyman later years saw him represent the likes of Anzhi Makhachkala, Everton, Sampdoria, Antalyaspor, Konyaspor and finally Qatar Sports Club.
The striker retired in 2019 and a couple of years later was elected president of the Cameroonian FA, where he’s made some inauspicious headlines. First there was footage of him getting involved in some kind of fracas during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, then he was served a six-month ban from attending matches by FIFA for “offensive behaviour and violations of the principles of fair play” related to an incident at the 2024 Women’s Under-20 World Cup.
Eventful, at least.
Luis Suarez
The Uruguayan has directly combined with Messi for over a hundred goals, which is considerably more than any of his other team-mates.
He reunited with Messi in the Miami sunshine last year and they seem to be enjoying their twilight years together in MLS.
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Andres Iniesta
After calling an end to his legendary Barcelona career back in 2018, Iniesta kept on playing for another six years; five in Japan with Vissel Kobe and one in the UAE with Emirates Club.
There was a brief period the World Cup winning icon spent without a club in which he was fancifully linked with clubs in the Championship, but in October he tearfully announced his retirement.
“One of the team-mates with the most magic and the one I enjoy playing together the most. Andres, the ball is going to miss you and so are all of us,” responded Messi on social media.
The 40-year-old has wasted no time in getting his coaching badges and has stated his desire to return to Barcelona’s bench in the future.
Xavi Hernandez
The legendary midfielder made his inevitable return to Barcelona back in 2021 and led his boyhood club to the La Liga title in 2022-23. But year three didn’t quite go as planned and his exit ended up messy.
He’s currently out of work, but a recent report in Spanish outlet Marca suggested the 45-year-old is waiting for an opportunity to coach “a European club with aspirations and a medium-long term project.”
Watch this space.
Sergio Busquets
Like Suarez and Jordi Alba – who didn’t quite make the cut in Messi’s all-time favourites list – Busquets is once again lining up alongside Barcelona’s all-time top goalscorer out in Miami.
Like Messi, Suarez and Alba, the veteran midfielder’s contract with the MLS outfit expires at the end of the upcoming 2025 campaign. It will be interesting to see whether the ex-Barca quartet extend their stay.
Neymar
The Brazilian left PSG alongside Messi in the summer of 2023, making a big-money move to Al-Hilal that’s turned out an absolute disaster. Injuries have limited Neymar to just 428 minutes across two seasons with the Saudi Pro League outfit.
“Neymar can no longer perform at the level we are used to. Things have become difficult for him, unfortunately,” stated Al-Hilal boss Jorge Jesus, explaining his decision to deregister the forward for the remainder of their 2024-25 campaign.
A romantic return to boyhood club Santos is reportedly imminent. He’s still only 32 and would love one last dance at next year’s World Cup; could a homecoming be what he needs to put his injury hell behind him and return to his previous levels?
READ: The 5 players Pep Guardiola considers in the GOAT debate alongside Lionel Messi
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Arguably the most surprising name in Messi’s response, Ibrahimovic won the La Liga title in his only season alongside the Argentinian at Barcelona but he famously failed to gel with Pep Guardiola.
Evidently Messi isn’t too fussed about the ‘prefect’ vibe in the infamously outspoken Swede’s autobiography.
“Messi started saying things,” Ibrahimovic wrote.
“Lionel Messi is amazing. He’s totally amazing. He joined Barça when he was 13. He was brought up in that culture and doesn’t have a problem with that school crap. But now I was there, and I was scoring more goals than him.
“He went to Guardiola and said: ‘I don’t want to be on the right wing any more, I want to play in the centre.’ I was the striker. Guardiola didn’t give a damn about that, though. He changed the tactical formation. Guardiola had to listen to him. But I mean, come on, I had scored loads of goals at Barça and I’d been pretty awesome as well.”
Ibra retired at the age of 41 back in 2023, but he still serves at AC Milan as a ‘senior advisor’.
David Villa
After helping Atletico Madrid win the La Liga title at Barcelona’s expense in 2013-14, Villa trod the MLS path nine years before Messi – and he was wildly prolific for New York City FC, notching 80 goals in 126 appearances for the club.
Spain’s all-time top goalscorer retired in 2019 after a stint linking back up with Iniesta at Vissel Kobe.
He’s kept a relatively low profile since hanging up his boots but he remains active in the sport as an entrepreneur. He’s the owner of the DV7 Group, which manages multiple football academies in countries including the USA, Puerto Rico, Spain, Japan and Dominican Republic.
Villa also serves as the vice president for lower league outfit CF Benidorm.