Barcelona's 50 Greatest Players Of All Time Have Been Ranked, Lionel Messi Is Only Third

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi was only ranked third by fans as the best player in the history of Barcelona.

The 33-year-old Barcelona captain is widely considered as one of the best players in the history of football and holds several records at the Spanish club.

Messi is Barcelona's outright top scorer and is only 36 appearances away from matching Xavi's all-time appearances for the club.

But fans over at Ranker have placed Messi behind Hristo Stoichkov and Johan Cruyff in the rankings.

Bulgarian legend Stoichkov, who secured the top spot, played for Barcelona in two separate spells in the 1990s and won the Ballon d'Or during his time with the club.

Football icon Cruyff finished second and is widely hailed for his impact at Barcelona, both as a player and later as a manager.

Posted below are the 50 best players in Barcelona's longstanding history, according to fans.

50. Carles Rexach

49. Hans Krankl

48. Gheorghe Popescu

47. Frank de Boer

46. Phillip Cocu

45. Rafael Marquez

44. Quini

43. Luis Suarez Miramontes

42. Bernd Schuster

41. Julio Salinas

40. Miguel Angel Nadal

39. Sandor Kocsis

38. Guillermo Amor

37. Txiki Begiristain

36. Paulino Alcantara

35. Pedro

34. Ivan Rakitic

33. Johan Neeskens

32. Luis Figo

31. Gary Lineker

30. Neymar

29. Laszlo Kubala

28. Victor Valdes

27. Deco

26. Jose Mari Bakero

25. Luis Enrique

24. David Villa

23. Patrick Kluivert

22. Andoni Zubizarreta

21. Gerard Pique

20. Marc-Andre ter Stegen

19. Sergio Busquets

18. Pep Guardiola

17. Michael Laudrup

16. Gheorghe Hagi

15. Dani Alves

14. Luis Suarez

13. Samuel Eto'o

12. Diego Maradona

11. Ronald Koeman

10. Rivaldo

9. Romario

8. Ronaldo

7. Carles Puyol

6. Xavi

5. Andres Iniesta

4. Ronaldinho

3. Lionel Messi

2. Johan Cruyff

1. Hristo Stoichkov

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You can find the Barcelona players who finished outside of the top 50 over at Ranker.

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Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Xavi, Football News, Ronaldinho, Football, Rivaldo, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta, Johan Cruyff, La Liga, Barca, Carles Puyol

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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