More Than Messi: Ligue 1 and Barcelona
Legends
As FC Barcelona get set to welcome UEFA Champions League upstarts Stade Brestois tomorrow evening, we take a look at the strong links between the Catalan club and Ligue 1 McDonald's, a connection which was well-established long before Paris Saint-Germain added two of the Blaugrana's top players in recent years.
The french connection...
In Barcelona's current squad, only two players, Jules Koundé and Raphina, have connections to Ligue 1. The French international defender came through Bordeaux's academy before leaving for Spain, while Raphina spent a single season at Stade Rennais. While Koundé is the only Frenchman currently on Barca's books, he's far from the first -- more than 20 French players have turned out for the club down the years.
Initially, these were players like Laurent Blanc and Frédéric Déhu, wily veterans for whom Barca was just one of a long list of illustrious clubs in their career, but into the 21st century, the French influence on the team became more pronounced as Thierry Henry and Ludovic Giuly, both of whom made their names at AS Monaco, were stalwarts for the club. More recently, younger players like Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembélé have played there as well -- the team has rarely been without a Frenchman in its ranks.
...and more!
But it's not just French players who have passed through both France in recent years as well. There's of course been a strong connection to the Americas with the likes of Rafa Marquez and Javier Saviola (both AS Monaco) and Alexis Sanchez (Olympique de Marseille) joining Neymar and Lionel Messi in having played in France and in the Nou Camp. Brazil is the most strongly represented here, of course -- besides Neymar and Raphina, Ronaldinho, Maxwell and Dani Alves (all Paris Saint-Germain) Malcom (Girondins de Bordeaux), Edmilson (Olympique Lyonnais) and Sonny Anderson (several clubs) also featured there.
African players have a strong representation as well -- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Seydou Keita and Yaya Touré are they key names but many others have feature briefly either with Barcelona or in France. Finally, non-French European players have been more infrequent, but no less notable, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG) and Memphis Depay (Lyon) among the notables.
Read more:
