Not Iniesta or Suarez-Neymar, this ex-Barcelona defender had ‘special connection’ with Lionel Messi

After achieving everything there was, Lionel Messi looked back at his extraordinary career and found no abundance of legendary players supporting him on his way to greatness. Messi dominated goalscoring records like no other and felt lucky to have great playmakers assisting him throughout his Barcelona career.

Earlier in his career as a teenager from La Masia, Messi had support from rising midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi. The midfield duo were widely tipped to play the biggest role in Messi’s news-breaking rise from teenager to wonderkid. Even 20 years after Messi’s debut for the Catalan giants, fans regard Messi-Iniesta-Xavi as the key behind Barca’s famous tiki-taka tactics.

During his dominance years at Camp Nou, Messi developed a deadly connection with Neymar and Luis Suarez. The attacking trio dominated Spanish football by scoring 363 goals and providing 272 assists combined, winning 7 trophies, including the famous treble in 2014-15.

In his twilight years with Barcelona, Messi revealed the name of a player with whom he had a special connection and fans were left surprised. It was not Andres Iniesta, who provided the majority of assists to Messi’s goals, or Luis Suarez, with whom the Argentine holds a close connection. It was Jordi Alba.

“Jordi Alba knows me to perfection,” Messi told Catalunya Radio, via the Barca website in 2018. "He knows when I will give him a no-look pass. I have a special connection with him."

Messi, Alba make MLS Best XI 2024

The Spanish left-back arrived at Camp Nou in 2012 and it took only six years for Messi to pick the defender over his long-term teammates at Barcelona. Working down the left flank, Alba was in a prime position to feed his famous inch-perfect crosses into the box on the path of Messi. Alba assisted 23 of the 672 goals Messi registered for Barcelona and then joined him at Inter Miami in 2023.

Messi and Alba continued their magic in Major League Soccer and recently made the Best XI for the 2024 season. They were the only two players from Inter Miami to feature in the list released earlier this month. Messi finished as the joint-second leading goalscorer with 21 goals and Alba provided 11 assists to power Miami to the top of the Eastern Conference points table.