Two Barcelona youngsters who were BETTER than Lionel Messi at free-kicks saw their careers take a completely different path

Two players were supposedly better than Lionel Messi at free-kicks during their time at Barcelona’s ‘La Masia’ academy.

Messi, 37, is arguably the greatest footballer of all time and spent his peak years at Barcelona having come through their iconic academy, before playing for PSG and now Inter Miami.

And free-kicks are a small part of his outstanding skillset on a football pitch with the Argentinian netting over 60 of them in his club career so far.

However, a former academy teammate of Messi told GOAL that the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was the ‘third-choice’ taker during his time at ‘La Masia’.

"Victor Vazquez, who was amazing, and the left-footed Juanjo Clausi used to take them, Messi almost never,” said Roger Giribet.

And former academy boss Albert Benaiges also claimed that the youth system at the club did not prioritise free-kicks.

"It was something we did not practice," Benaiges said. "At Barcelona, we used to occasionally do free-kick drills with a wall. We would give the odd bit of advice, but it was not a part of the game we worked on particularly hard."

But what happened to Vazquez and Clausi?

Well, Vazquez went on to represent Barca three times at senior level, however, given the quality in Pep Guardiola’s side at the time, he was mainly used in Barcelona’s ‘B’ team.

In February 2009, he suffered a serious knee injury and missed the remainder of the season as a result.

Messi is now an expert free-kick taker (Credit:Getty)

Vazquez, who is now 38, left Barca for Belgian side Club Brugge in 2011 and forged a respectable career at the club - making 173 appearances before joining Mexican outfit Cruz Azul in 2016.

Spells at Toronto FC, Al-Arabi, Umm Salal, Eupen, LA Galaxy and East Bengal followed over the next eight years and he currently plays for Andorran side FC Santa Coloma.

As for Clausi, who is now 37, he failed to make a single professional appearance for Barcelona and his career did not go as he may have liked.

After he left Barca in 2006, the ‘La Masia’ product became a journeyman in the lower divisions of Spanish football and began studying electromechanical maintenance, as per Planet Sport.

In an interview with YoSoyNoticia, he referenced a youth tournament that Barca won in Italy, during which he was the top scorer.

“I was the top scorer and Messi was chosen as the best player," said Clausi.

“I keep that picture of the two of us posing with the trophy, and now see where Leo is and know that I could share that moment with him…not everyone can say that.”

It is unclear if the player still has a club.