‘Lionel Messi was a tyrant’ – says Barcelona boss Koeman

Koeman believes the Argentine captain Messi has a very serious anger problem and very autocratic when it comes to the field of training.

‘Lionel Messi was a tyrant’ – says Barcelona boss Koeman
Lionel Messi and Koeman

Ronald Koeman has caused yet another stir at the Catalans club this afternoon by labelling ex-Barca superstar Lionel Messi as a 'tyrant in training' after his move to Paris Saint-Germain this summer.

The Argentine captain spent the majority of his career at the Nou Camp after signing for Barcelona as a 13-year-old.

Messi rose to the occasion and has become Barca’s all-time record appearance holder and record goal-scorer.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner has etched himself not only into the hearts of the Barcelona faithful forever, but the hearts of the footballing world.

Lionel’s move to Paris Saint-German came as a shock to the footballing world surrounding with a whole lot of controversies.

The Parisian star wasn't allowed to renew after La Liga laws prohibited his signing given Barcelona's financial woes.

And Koeman sang his praises in the press - although he labelled him a tyrant following one incident which happened when Messi played under him.

“I knew how good he is, but it’s still nice to see it up close every day.

“Everything you would like to teach a football player, in recognizing situations, in taking the ball under pressure, in ball speed, in finishing; with Messi, everything is a 10. Not normal, not normal.

“Of course he had good players around him, but he made the difference. Everyone seems better than they are because of him. This is not a criticism, but an observation.

“When we did a finishing practice during training, there were sometimes players who started to hit easy balls, a bit of fooling around.

“But with Messi, everything was: boom, boom, boom, boom. Never frills, everything functional and always wanted to win everything.” Koeman explained

However, the Catalan boss believes Lionel Messi has a very serious anger problem and added that:

“We always play a rondo before training. If the ball goes around 20 times, then the players in the middle must have an extra turn.

“If that happens three times in a row, the players will form two lines and the two who were in the middle then walkthrough and get taps on their heads and such.

“I asked Messi if it had happened to him once. ‘Yes, once,’ he said. 

“In all those years with him, the older players never lost an exercise against the young.

“It happened once and Messi was seriously angry about that for a week, he’s really, a tyrant.”