The six-time Ballon d’Or achiever has spent his integral career with the Nou Camp club, progressing through the celebrated La Masia academy .
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Lionel Messi has played alongside his fair share of talent during his time at Barcelona
He made his official first-team debut in October 2004 and has developed into one of the – if not the – greatest footballers of all time .
Across his 17 years, he has played aboard scores of top-class players on his manner to winning ten-spot LaLiga titles and four Champions Leagues .
In the meanwhile, the Mirror have found out the players who have lined up alongside the 33-year-old the most, not an overall list of the most talented players .
While capital rival Cristiano Ronaldo ‘s list features eight Real Madrid stars and three from Manchester United, there is one common denominator with Messi ‘s XI – and it could have featured the Portugal caption if Sir Alex Ferguson got his way. Although others may have played more matches, such as Carles Puyol on 269 and Ivan Rakitic on 166, the line-up has been done in an actual formation .
hera ‘s Lionel Messi ‘s elite eleven …
GK: Victor Valdes
Valdes played 353 times aboard the capital man, doing the business at the bet on while Messi did the wrong going forward .
The show-stopper emerged as Barca ‘s first-choice keeper in the 2003/04 temper so was No1 when Messi broke through until leaving in 2014 and joining Manchester United. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has been the No1 between the sticks since and played 200 times with Leo .
RB: Dani Alves
The copulate formed a quite formidable partnership down the Barcelona veracious between 2008 and 2016 .
They teamed up a sum of 349 times and won 23 trophies as separate of arguably the best football team of all fourth dimension .
CB: Gerard Pique
Pique is just four months older than Messi and the couple came through at La Masia together. After a brief stretch at Manchester United where he played with Ronaldo, Pique returned to the Nou Camp and they have played over 500 matches together and remain team-mates .
CB: Javier Mascherano
Javier Mascherano is a very fortunate man indeed, lining up with Messi 413 times .
not merely did he spend eight years at Barcelona after signing from Liverpool in 2010 but he besides enjoyed 13 years aboard Messi for the Argentina national team – they have a combine 285 caps .
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Javier Mascherano had the privilege of playing with Messi for both club and nation credit : Reuters
LB: Jordi Alba
Alba rejoined Barcelona from Valencia to replace Eric Abidal as left-back in 2012/13, resulting in the Frenchman leaving in 2013. A former Barca child, he has played with Messi 289 times and, at 31, is hush the No1 choice in the left-back position.
Read more: France national football team
CDM: Sergio Busquets
Busquets comes out acme of the pile, lining up with Messi more than anybody else .
The holding midfielder made his LaLiga debut in September 2008 and has been a mainstay ever since .
CM: Xavi
The legendary midfielder misses out on the 400 club by falling one short on 399 games with Leo. But he did win 24 of his 25 honours with his boyhood golf club alongside Messi. not bad .
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Sergio Busquets has racked up a stagger 512 appearances aboard Messi – no player has more credit : Reuters
CM: Andres Iniesta
The fall excellence and creative genius of Xavi and Iniesta no doubt played a huge function in making the Messi the record-breaking star he has become .
For Iniesta, he took to the field 489 times with the Argentine caption before heading to Vissel Kobe in Japan .
RW: Pedro
Despite being just a calendar month younger than Messi, Pedro had to wait until January 2008 to make his first-team debut. He then made 270 appearances in attack with the stream Barca captain – no forward has managed more – and scored 99 goals before signing for Chelsea .
ST: Luis Suarez
It could have been very different if Arsenal got their means but Suarez moved to Barcelona in 2014 and has not looked back since .
They are close friends off the field and played about 300 matches together, with Suarez racking up a entire of 198 goals for the clubhouse and 13 pieces of silverware .
LW: Neymar
Completing the deadly MSN attacking three, Neymar added the exuberance and flare in that celebrated front three. Neymar spent four years at the Nou Camp and played 161 times aboard Messi before his world-record transfer to PSG in 2017 – but could he add to that count with a stunning return to Barca ?
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Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar formed one of the most deadly strike forces in football during their time together at the Nou Camp credit : Reuters
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Lionel Messi ’ mho compulsion with ‘ The Greatest ’ Muhammad Ali includes a shrine to boxing icon at Barcelona asterisk ’ s home