The Top 5 FC Barcelona Players of All Time

FC Barcelona is one of the greatest football clubs in the world. They are famous for producing incredible players with jaw-dropping abilities.

This is a look at some of the greatest players to grace Camp Nou and contains a range of players who are on this list for their various abilities on the pitch.

Barcelona is a storied club that has produced a huge number of highly-talented players. With that in mind, I could not fit every player on this list, and I would love to hear who you would add to the list!

Johan Cruyff (1973-1978)

Appearances: 173

Goals: 59

Assists: 5

The topmost cavalier on our list of the top 5 greatest players in FC Barcelona's history is the swift Dutchman, Johan Cruyff.

Thought by many to be the man who started it all for Barcelona, the Dutch international will go down in Catalan lore for centuries to come.

Upon joining the club from Ajax back in 1973, Cruyff informed the papers that he had chosen Barça over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Many controversies arose in the Spanish capital because of this.

But it was on the pitch that the Flying Dutchman did most of his talking. He scored 59 goals in 173 appearances for the club, and in his first season guided Barcelona to their first La Liga title since 1960, picking up the Balon d'Or in the process, and winning the prestigious award once more in the subsequent season.

Cruyff and Barcelona

Cruyff was known for his fantastic technical ability, speed, and acceleration. His greatest craft was his vision.

Cruyff was a proponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football explored by Rinus Michels and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.

However, most supporters will argue it was on the sideline where Cruyff crafted his enduring legacy at the Nou Camp.

He became manager of the club back in 1988 and introduced the tiki-taka style of play that Barça continues to employ today.

The short passing and patient movement, as well as maintaining ball possession, has been frustrating and vanquishing opponents ever since- and the organisation has a former chain-smoker from Amsterdam to thank for it!

Xavi (1992-2015)

Appearances: 767

Goals: 85

Assists: 185

The man whose disyllabic moniker has become a byword for the class was, without question, one of (if not the most) gifted midfielders in the world.

Even if you just started watching football last week and tuned in for Barça’s recent showdown with Real Madrid, it’d be difficult to say you weren’t impressed with the midfield magician’s performance.

Xavi was the biggest component of the Camp Nou team. He was an expert passer, mostly relying on his ability to find and exploit space as a deep-lying playmaker.

As he said, "That's what I do; look for spaces. All-day. I'm always looking." Finding space, he would appear for a teammate to receive and then move the ball on, with his coach Pep Guardiola putting it: "I get the ball, I give the ball, I get the ball, I give the ball."

A diminutive, composed, agile, and technically-skilled player with a slender physique and a low centre of gravity, these characteristics compensated for his lack of pace or physicality. But his control, relaxed and composed body shape and vision were his lethal tools.

Xavi's ability to control games earned him the nickname The Puppet Master.

His creativity, range of passing, and unique set of skills have led many in the sport to regard him as one of the greatest midfielders, and one of the finest playmakers in history.

He was also part of the fabled Barca group of players that dominated International football with Spain, including the 2010 World Cup team, considered the best of all-time.

Ronaldinho (2003-2008)

Appearances: 207

Goals: 95

Assists: 80

Let’s be honest, at some point over the last 20 years, we all wished we were Ronaldinho. Thanks to his dazzling style of playing while at Barcelona, it’s easy to see why.

During the majority of his career at the Nou Camp (which coincidentally turned out to be his prime), it was nearly impossible to name a more exciting player in the world of football.

With exceptional dribbling, enthralling trickery, and emphatic finishing, the Brazilian forward wowed everyone who feasted their eyes on his superior quality.

In five seasons for the Blaugranas, Ronaldinho tallied 95 goals and 80 assists, winning the FIFA World Player of the Year award two years in a row (2004 and 2005), one Ballon d'Or, two La Liga titles, and one European Cup, thus etching his name into the history books as a living Barcelona legend.

Throughout his career, Ronaldinho was often deployed as a winger, although he usually played as a classic number 10 in an attacking midfielder role.

Due to his ability to score and create goals, he was capable of playing in several offensive positions, on either wing or in a free central role.

With his pace, acceleration, athleticism, balance, ball control, and dribbling ability, he was capable of beating players when undertaking individual runs, often using an array of tricks and feints to get past opponents in one on one situations, including stepovers and nutmegs.

The Brazilian legend Tostão claimed:

"Ronaldinho has the dribbling skills of Rivelino, the vision of Gérson, the spirit and happiness of Garrincha, the pace, skill, and power of Jairzinho and Ronaldo, the technical ability of Zico and the creativity of Romário."

Above all, this phenomenal legend had one, very special ability: he made all of us smile.

Lionel Messi (2003-2021)

Appearances: 778

Goals: 672

Assists: 301

The Argentine magician Lionel Messi is one of the most decorated players not only in Barca history but also in world football.

The trademark of La Masia and the perfect picture of legends like Maradona and Pele. Lionel Messi is still one of the best players in the game along with his eternal rival, the Portuguese Wizard, Cristiano Ronaldo.

In his 17 seasons at Barcelona, Messi played around 778 matches in different competitions at different levels. He registered 672 exhilarating goals and totalled another 301 assists. Messi's pace and technical ability enabled him to undertake individual dribbling runs towards the goal, in particular during counterattacks, usually starting from the halfway line or the right side of the pitch.

Widely considered to be the best dribbler in the world, and one of the greatest dribblers of all time because of this ability, his former Argentina manager Diego Maradona has said of him,

"The ball stays glued to his foot; I've seen great players in my career, but I've never seen anyone with Messi's ball control.”

Beyond his individual qualities, he is also a well-rounded, hard-working team player, known for his creative combinations, in particular with former Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andrés Iniesta. He has often been described as a magician; a conjurer, creating goals and opportunities where seemingly none exist.

Moreover, Messi is an accurate free-kick and penalty kick taker. As of August 2021, Messi ranks 11th all-time in goals scored from direct free-kicks with 58, the most among active players. He also has a penchant for scoring from chips.

Football is the most popular sport in the world, and Leo Messi is a football superstar. Then again, as Samuel Eto’o said, Messi wasn’t really playing football- he, alone, was playing something else.

Carles Puyol (1996-2014)

Appearances: 595

Goals: 20

Assists: 16

The man who looks more like a golden retriever than a footballer has captained the team during one of its greatest eras.

Carles Puyol was the ultimate symbol of hard work, passion, and dedication. The unique centre-back from Catalonia has been the undisputed leader of one of the most impermeable backlines in Europe since being handed the armband back in 2004- and he has four La Liga titles and two European Cups to show for it.

Puyol is regarded as one of the best captains and toughest defenders of all time.

Mainly a centre-back, he was a versatile player who could also feature on either flank, mostly as a right-back, in particular during the first part of his career.

Described as a "no-nonsense" player, Puyol was known for his commanding presence in the air despite his modest stature, as well as his ability to read the game, and his intense commitment and ruggedness as a defender, in particular when challenging for the ball.

According to Barcelona's head doctor, he was "the strongest, who has the quickest reactions, and who has the most explosive strength."

In 2006, Simon Talbot of The Guardian described Puyol as: "Barcelona's very own Captain Caveman, playing football with his heart on his sleeve and his hair in his eyes, throwing himself about the pitch and launching wholeheartedly into kamikaze tackles like a hyperactive, lunatic kid."

Club fans referred to him as "The Wall".

Although not the most technically gifted, Puyol had something you couldn’t measure with statistics- his heart. He bled blue and claret, and he was instrumental in guiding Barcelona through the club's most prosperous era in its history. And indeed, Puyol goes down as one of the best defenders in the history of the game.