Lionel Messi Shunned as Barcelona All-Time Greatest Player as Fans Name Club's Top 30 Best Stars
- Diego Maradona has been voted Barcelona's greatest player of all time
- Lionel Messi came in second behind the late legend while Johan Cryuff made the list on the fourth position
- The polls were conducted by the supporters of the Catalan club on Ranker
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Lionel Messi has been ranked as the second-best Barcelona player in a poll conducted by the supporters of the club.
No fewer than 30 players were shortlisted for the contention of the Catalans greatest player of all-time and the six-time Ballon d'Or is not the preferred one.
Instead, the fans chose to vote for legendary Diego Maradona who spent just two seasons at the Nou Camp decided on the fan poll site Ranker.
The late 60-year-old edged his compatriot when supporters were asked to rank the LaLiga giants' best and brightest.
Even Johan Cryuff, the Dutchman who revolutionalised the club's style of football had to come on in the fourth position while Brazilian icon Ronaldinho was voted third behind Messi according to the top 20 stars by SunSport.
Fans' all-time top 20 Barcelona stars as listed by SunSport
- Diego Maradona
- Lionel Messi
- Ronaldinho
- Johan Cryuff
- Andres Iniesta
- Xavi Hernandes
- Carles Puyol
- Ronaldo Da Lima
- Gerard Pique
- Luis Suarez
- Neymar
- Dani Alves
- Sergio Busquets
- Samuel Eto'o
- Rivaldo
- David Villa
- Ronald Koeman
- Romario
- Hristo Stoichkov
- Victor Valdes
Meanwhile, players like Eto'o, Rivaldo, Romario and some other legendary names came outside of the top 10 on the list.
Former goalkeeper Victor Valdes was voted 20th while the club's current manager Koeman, in spite of his performances during his playing time made was considered 17th best player.
Lionel Messi recently became Barca's player's with the most appearances after beating Xavi's previously held record. He has been the club's all-time top goals scorer for some time now and has equally broken a number of other records.
Names like Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Rafael Marquez, and a few others were missing from the list of best Barca stars.
YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Barcelona legend Rivaldo believes Lionel Messi will not leave the club when his contract expires this summer.
The 48-year-old former midfielder says the Argentine has been full of life since Joan Laporta returned as the president this month.
And this is an indication that the six-time Ballon d'Or winner will extend his stay with the Catalans beyond this campaign.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
Mohammed Awal Mohammed Awal holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies (Journalism) at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. He has worked in print and online media with Ghanaian-based The Chronicle newspaper, Starr FM and US-based online portable, Face2faceAfrica.com. He also had brief stints with Africafeeds.
Aba Afful (Copyeditor) Maame Aba serves as a copy editor at YEN.com.gh. She naturally enjoys working with words and has an eye for quality content. She has a keen interest in cyberspace and wants to see YEN.com.gh produce more impactful, thought-provoking, and error-free content. Aba has five years of experience as a content writer, blogger, author, and proofreader. She graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2017. She joined the team in 2021.