Barcelona Atletic manager opens up on issue with Lionel Messi: “Guardiola had to intervene”

Barcelona Atletic manager Rafael Marquez has revealed that he did not have the best relationship with Lionel Messi during the duo’s playing time at FC Barcelona, saying that while he admires the Argentinian for his career, the two were not good friends.

Marquez signed for Barcelona in 2003 from AS Monaco and during his debut season, Messi made his first appearance for the senior team. At that time, Messi was largely used for the youth teams, but he did train with the senior squad as well.

While Messi went on to play for the Barcelona senior team for 17 years, Marquez’s career in Catalonia ended in 2010. During these times, the Mexcian and the Argentinian ardently shared the field, but their off-the-field relations lacked the chemistry that was evident on the field.

Messi grew in frustration 

In an interview with Yordi Rosado, the four-time La Liga winner revealed what caused the stir in the relationship between the team. 

“I saw Messi’s debut when he was young. But before that, we had heard about a kid in La Masia who was different from the rest, a real phenomenon,” he began saying. 

Rafael Marquez and Lionel Messi were teammates at Barcelona until 2010. (Photo credit: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)

“We knew he was going to be good, but we wanted to help him in training. I used to give him a lot of orders, and he listened. We knew that he had the ability to dribble past 3-4 players, but sometimes he exaggerated,” added Marquez. 

The former defender explained that the senior players gave Messi their advice but one day, upon Marquez’s insistence, the two got in a brawl and the gravity of it was so hot that Pep Guardiola had to intervene.

“We tried to be direct with him. ‘This is where you dribble, here you don’t. You have to be smarter in your passing, and work with your teammates.’ One day, because of my insistence on these instructions, a problem happened between us. 

The brawl was so intense that Marquez ultimately accepted that he and Messi were mere colleagues at Barcelona and nothing more.

“We started exchanging words, so Guardiola had to intervene and stop the fight. The truth is that Messi and I were not friends, we were colleagues. Even then, I admire Leo for his career and he’s the greatest in football history,” he said.