Rafa Márquez, who serves as coach of Barça Atlètic, recalled the early steps of Lionel Messi and his relationship with the man now considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time. He even revealed that there was a 'clash' that Pep Guardiola had to stop at the time.

"I saw Messi's debut when he was young. We had heard that there was a boy at La Masia who was very different from the rest, who made a difference and was a real phenomenon. And the truth is, from his arrival, that was truly visible. We expected him to be a great player, but of course, we had to help him because he was very young. In training, I gave him a lot of orders and he listened," said the Mexican in an interview with Yordi Rosado.

Mourinho Praises Messi

"We knew that Leo could dribble past three or four players but sometimes he exaggerated a lot. We tried to direct him, telling him: 'Dribble here, not here.' It was to make him work more with his teammates. And one day, because of my strong insistence on these instructions, there was a problem between Messi and me. We started exchanging words, and Guardiola had to intervene to solve the problem. Messi and I were not great friends, we were colleagues."

The multiple-time World Cup player with Mexico, who is now part of the Barcelona B team, shared six seasons with Messi, between 2004 and 2010, and despite revealing that they were not the best of friends, he praised the Argentine's career, "I admire Leo's career, and for me, he is the greatest in the history of football."