Ronaldinho admitted that the only regret from his career was not playing more alongside Lionel Messi.
Ronaldinho has revealed the greatest regret of his successful career at Barcelona- not playing more games alongside Lionel Messi. Pep Guardiola offloaded him to AC Milan as part of the clearout he undertook. He only featured in a few games with Messi and has revealed that he regrets having left Barca during Leo’s rise. But Pep had a point in labeling Ronaldinho a ‘party animal’. He feared that it would have a bad impression on a young and calm Messi and also on Dinho’s game. Pep was turned out to be correct, as the transfer triggered the rise of Messi and the decline of Ronaldinho.
In an interview with Gulf News, the legend stated, “I’ve achieved everything I wanted to and I’m grateful for that. I would have loved to have played more with Messi, he’s a great player. And I’m also very glad to have helped him at the beginning of his career with the assistance of his first goal. Having seen him go on to become such a great player, it would have been great to have played more with him. But at that time my period at Barca was over. Hence, it was time for me to move to achieve new things and set new objectives. So, the time had come for me to leave.
He also spoke about Neymar and Brazilian football, saying, “Neymar is today unquestionably our biggest star. He’s comparable to every other guy who’s ever played for Brazil that’s for sure. Brazilian football is in transition and winning an Olympic gold at home was good for confidence. I now believe Neymar has all the capabilities of leading this team and I believe Brazil have a good chance of winning the next World Cup.”
Barcelona have hired Ronaldinho to be their ambassador. He was present at the opening of Barca’s first office in the United States.
