Last year, there were reports that Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Lionel Messi didn't see eye to eye while they were at Barcelona together.According to Spanish publication Diario Gol, Ter Stegen was angry with Messi over his voting for the FIFA Best awards.The Argentine picked Keylor Navas, Manuel Neuer and Jan Oblak ahead of his then teammate in the goalkeeper category, which apparently didn't go down well at all.Ter Stegen's farewell post to Messi on Instagram last summer suggested that the reports were indeed true.The German goalkeeper wrote in part of his statement: “While we didn’t always agree on everything, we both wanted what was best for the team and managed to grow as individuals, regardless of the result. Thanks for that!"Interesting...
So when Ter Stegen was asked to pick his 'dream XI' made up of people he's played with throughout his career, it's perhaps no surprise that he didn't select Messi.But what is shocking is the fact that both Neymar and Luis Suarez didn't get the nod from the Germany international either.Let's take a look at the XI in full...
Ter Stegen's 'dream XI'
The XI: Janis Blaswich, Dani Alves, Antonio Rudiger, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Frenkie de Jong, Mario Gotze, Marco Reus.
Now, Reus, Gotze and De Jong are all fine players, but superior to Messi, Neymar and Suarez? Yeah, not for us.
The selection of Blaswich over Bayern Munich colossus Manuel Neuer is utterly baffling as well.
Blaswich played with Ter Stegen at Borussia Monchengladbach and is now at Dutch side Heracles Almelo.
The defence and midfield choices from Ter Stegen are much better, though.
Six bona fide Barcelona legends feature, while the selection of Chelsea's Rudiger is more than understandable given that he's one of the best centre-backs in the world right now.
Ter Stegen hasn't exactly played alongside many top-quality players in the position during his time at Barcelona either, with Pique the only real exception.