Lionel Messi struggles to accept the need for rotation, claims former Chelsea defender Juliano Belletti.
The Argentina forward has been the talk of world football in recent weeks after a bitter fall out with Barcelona boss Luis Enrique following his omission from the starting eleven against Real Sociedad.
Messi is believed to have grown frustrated with life at Barca under Enrique, all of which seems to be coming to a head with reports that the former Celta Vigo could be set to lose his job at Camp Nou.
Belletti, who scored the winning goal in the 2006 Champions League final for the Catalan side, says that Messi has never accepted being left out of the starting line-up.
“Messi doesn’t like being on the bench,” he said on Arena SporTV. “He doesn’t accept rotation, which, in the long term, is important.
“When I was at Barcelona, I saw him have discussions with the coaching staff because he didn’t want to miss a game.”
Belletti does feel, however, that Messi has earned the right to certain “privileges” after his impressive accolades over the years.
“The Barcelona of today is Messi. If they’ve won so many titles, it was because of the high standards Messi offered. It seems normal to me that he’d have certain privileges,” he added.
“If he wants to play, to keep a calm atmosphere, you should let him play.”