"I was mad at Messi. He can hit you in the face if he want to"

Lionel Messi and Marc-Andre ter Stegen were teammates at Barcelona for a long time. One was constantly in the running for the Ballon d'Or, the other for the Golden Glove. But despite achieving great results and winning trophies together, they didn’t get along particularly well.

On a Bild podcast, the German goalkeeper spoke openly about his relationship with the famous Argentine and revealed that it wasn’t friendly. He respected him as a captain, but nothing beyond that. He even had complaints about Messi’s occasional behavior during training sessions.

He was retired and now he will sign a new contract

“It’s a privilege to watch Messi play football. He’s capable of seeing things others can’t,” the German began respectfully. But then...

“He’s probably the only footballer who could hit you in the face with the ball if he wanted to. Others would shoot around, but he was allowed to do that. He could embarrass you if he wanted to. Where that anger comes from? You’d have to ask him,” revealed the Barcelona goalkeeper.

It’s clear that strikers see goalkeepers as obstacles and vice versa, which was probably one of the reasons for the cold relationship between the two teammates.

“Messi draws motivation from things others wouldn’t. We had periods when things didn’t work between us because he was mad at me, or I was mad at him, but we never fought. I’d say we simply didn’t get along. Still, we shared a locker room for a long time, and it was definitely interesting to have him in the team and watch him lead the squad as its captain. Whether I liked his style or not, it was interesting to witness it all. Leo isn’t loud, he doesn’t talk much, and because of that, when he does say something, everyone listens. And that’s what it takes to be a captain — that others listen and follow,” said Ter Stegen, who currently wears the armband for Barcelona.

The experienced goalkeeper also shared that he almost moved from Barcelona to Manchester City because he was unhappy with his status. The German arrived from Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 2014 at the age of 22, while the more experienced Claudio Bravo was brought in from Real Sociedad at the same time. The Chilean had priority in the first two seasons, which Ter Stegen didn’t like.

“I even considered changing clubs. That was a time when I was dissatisfied with the situation at Barcelona, because although we were winning trophies, I wasn’t playing in La Liga. I got 25 or 28 matches per season through cup competitions, which wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to be the undisputed number one.”

Feeling undervalued by the club, Ter Stegen requested a meeting with the management.

“Pep was in Barcelona, and we met at a mutual friend’s house. He explained his idea of bringing me to Manchester City. He was very convincing, and I thought it might be a solution to my problems. I liked the plan he presented, and moving to City seemed very appealing. That’s why I went to talk to coach Luis Enrique. I asked him to let me go, but he said he wouldn’t. He also said he would tell everyone at the club not to let me go under any circumstances. I told him that on one hand, I was glad he thought so highly of me, but also that I wanted to be the number one. When he told me to wait and see how preseason went, I couldn’t control myself. I told him I would go to the management and ask them to make me the first-choice goalkeeper,” Ter Stegen recalled how he fought for his position.

In the very next season (2016/2017), he received consistent trust from the club — and with his performances over the years, he’s proven that it was not the wrong decision. The German has since become irreplaceable in Barcelona’s goal.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - QUARTER-FINALS

First leg

Tuesday

Arsenal - Real Madrid 3-0 (0-0)

/Rice 58, 70, Merino 75/

Bayern - Inter 1-2 (0-1)

/Muller 85 - Lautaro 38, Frattesi 88/

Wednesday

Barcelona - Dortmund IN PROGRESS

PSG - Aston Villa IN PROGRESS

***odds are subject to change***