Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi has surprisingly named Frank Rijkaard as the most important coach in his career to date.
Lionel Messi hailed Frank Rijkaard, Dutch midfield legend and former coach of Barcelona, as the most important coach he has worked with in his career. Frank Rijkaard was also a former coach of the Dutch national team.
Messi named Rijkaard above the likes of Pep Guardiola, Diego Maradona, Gerardo Martino and Luis Enrique as the Dutchman was the Barcelona coach who gave him his debut.
“All the coaches I had at first left me things, but I think the most important thing in my career was Rijkaard,” the Argentina international told Egyptian television channel MBC.
“If he had not decided to get me in the first team to train and play perhaps had never reached the first team.”
Messi was handed his Barca bow at the age of 17, becoming the third youngest player in the club’s history.
“I always said [Riikaard] was, for me, a very important person because he trusted me,” Messi added.
“He made me play in the first team.”
