I was Lionel Messi’s team-mate at Barcelona – he didn’t care about Ronaldo rivalry

Gerard Pique says that Lionel Messi was more intent on securing trophies at Barcelona than engaging in his 'GOAT' rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi, who spent 17 years at Camp Nou after progressing from the youth ranks of Barca, amassed an impressive collection of 10 La Liga titles, seven Copa del Reys and Supercopa de Espanas each. His tally also includes four Champions League trophies, largely due to his remarkable record of 672 goals and 303 assists in 778 games across all competitions.

Owing to his exceptional form over nearly two decades in Spain, Messi secured seven of his eight Ballon d'Or awards with Barcelona, as well as nine La Liga Best Player accolades and six European Golden Shoes. Despite parting ways with the club in 2021 on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, and subsequently moving to Inter Miami last year, he remains Barcelona's top scorer of all time, comfortably surpassing Cesar Rodriguez's previous record of 226 goals.

READ MORE: Cristiano Ronaldo's classy gesture to pitch invader as security chase goes viral after Portugal goal

READ MORE: I was a failure at Manchester United - it will always be the biggest regret of my career

Ex-Manchester United man Pique, a long-time team-mate of Messi at Barcelona, believes the Argentine's extensive list of titles is evidence of his focus on leading his former club to victory, rather than outdoing Ronaldo as the greatest player of all time. Speaking to talkSPORT, Pique said: "He wasn't that type of guy."

"He was very team-focused even though he was getting front page headlines in the newspapers. He was very close with all of us and just focused on winning titles like the Champions League. He was the best and he was winning the Ballon d'Or.",