Lionel Messi Isn't The Best Barcelona Player In History, According To Fans

Fans shockingly didn’t rank Lionel Messi as the greatest Barcelona player in history.

Barcelona is one of the legendary clubs in the Spanish league. In the past few decades, the club has housed some of the greatest soccer players of all time, including Brazilian icons Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. But of course, nobody can deny that Messi has been Barca’s king and he has continued his reign to this day. However, in the latest ranking of greatest Barcelona players of all time, courtesy of fans across the world, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner only landed in third.

Fans over on Ranker have been casting their votes to name the club's greatest ever player. Unsurprisingly, the top 30 is a list full of legends from all different eras. From Johan Cruyff's “Dream team” to the Pep Guardiola era, the history of Barca really has been quite remarkable.

Ultimately, the list wasn’t really shocking at all as the most notable Barcelona players were all included, such as Rivaldo, Romario and Samuel Eto'o. However, there are some players whose rankings present a strong case for debate.

One of them was Luis Suarez. After years of proving that he is one of the few players who can get along well with Messi on the pitch, Suarez’s brilliance with Barca is still arguably underrated. With 191 goals and 108 assists to his name in just 270 games and being member of the then phenomenal “MSN,” Suarez didn’t make the top 10 and was ranked no. 11.

Some may already expect that former Barca superstar Neymar will not go down in the history of Barcelona as one of the top 5 greatest of all time. However, the no. 9 spot seems to be a little bit far for the most expensive footballer of all time. Neymar was also once viewed by many as Messi’s heir in the club.

Original Ronaldo is a no-brainer on the list. During his brief stay in Barcelona between 1996 and 1997, Ronaldo scored 47 goals in 49 games before moving to Inter Milan.

While it already came as a surprise that majority of the fans who voted didn’t see Messi as the greatest Barcelona player of all time, some may have already raised their eyebrows after learning that Brazilian legend Ronaldinho was ranked one spot ahead of “Leo.”

And according to fans, the greatest player to ever grace the pitch is the legendary Diego Maradona.

The Maradona vs. Messi debate has been going on for quite some time and this list certainly just added more fuel to the fire.