What Position Does Messi Play?
Many people believe that Lionel Messi is the greatest footballer ever to play the game. The record-breaking Argentina forward has won an incredible eight Ballon d'Or awards — more than any other pro — as well as 45 team trophies including 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League trophies and the 2022 World Cup.
But simply reeling off Messi's successes doesn't even begin to capture the magic he brings to a football pitch; for two decades, he's been dazzling fans, neutrals and opponents with his remarkable vision, defence-splitting passes and jaw-dropping technical ability.
The fluid way that Messi operates, demonstrating these skills in various different areas of the pitch with equal levels of devastation, makes him even harder to defend against. Over the course of his career, the Argentine maestro has occupied several roles and caused many people to wonder 'What position does Messi play?'.
That's the question we'll be answering in this article, as we explore the evolution of the World Cup winner's game and dig into how fans' understanding of the Messi position has shifted over time.
What Position Does Messi Play?
Messi's performance at the 2022 Qatar World Cup was staggering. While France star Kylian Mbappe got his hands on the tournament Golden Boot with eight goals, his Argentine opponent in the final ended up scoring seven while also registering the joint-highest number of assists (three) and recording more shots on target than anyone else (13).
Arguably the highlight of Messi's tournament came in the semi-final against Croatia, when his tricky dribbling and perfectly-timed bursts of pace down Argentina's right-wing devastated highly-regarded young defender Josko Gvardiol (now one of Guardiola's most trusted lieutenants at Manchester City) and led to Julian Alvarez's second goal.
This moment harked back to the early days of Messi's career, when he was seen as a skillful winger capable of shooting with pace down either the right or left flank and creating something special. But this is not the view most people have of the Argentine today, and rightly so.
Today, Messi tends to operate as a central forward, typically stationing himself as his team's most advanced player but crucially having a huge amount of license to roam around the pitch. He'll sometimes drop deeper into midfield to pick up the ball, and on other occasions he'll push out wide to create space in the middle.
His movement is extremely intelligent and constantly opens up room for his teammates to exploit, but this also means his exact role is pretty hard to pin down. In order to properly explain what position Messi plays, we're going to chart his evolution as a player from his 2003 debut for Barcelona all the way up to the present day.
How Messi's Position Has Evolved Over the Years
When Messi burst onto the scene in the early 2000s after graduating from Barcelona's famous La Masia Academy, he was primarily employed on the wing in order to slot alongside more established players like Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho whose places in the team were nailed on.
With Eto'o being a classic Number 9 and Ronaldinho usually operating from the left wing, Messi was typically stationed on the right-hand side by manager Frank Rijkaard. However, early on the Argentine became known for a tendency to cut inside to more central areas where he could wreak havoc on opposition defences.
So when budding young coach Pep Guardiola was given the top job in 2008, one of the most important early decisions he made was taking advantage of Messi's talents by moving him into a more central area. This move, which structured the team around the creative talents the youngster had at his disposal, allowed Messi to win 14 trophies in just four seasons under Guardiola.
At times, Guardiola would deploy him as a central playmaker, occupying classic Number 10 spaces and linking up with more advanced forwards while also chipping in with a huge amount of goals himself.
On other occasions, he'd work from a wider position on the right wing, while the period of 2009-2014 (arguably his most memorable years at Barca) saw him mainly utilised as a False Nine, stationed in high central positions but with the freedom to drop into midfield and create more than a typical Number 9 would.
When striker Luis Suarez arrived at the club in 2014, Messi shifted back to the right wing but in a more fluid role that would allow him to regularly end up in central positions.
🇦🇷 Scaloni: “Leo Messi can play wherever he wants; he started his career as a striker, then he played as a winger and now we see him as a midfielder.” pic.twitter.com/fCNmKZQswX
— Barça Worldwide (@BarcaWorldwide) December 5, 2023
With Suarez in the middle, Neymar on the left and Messi on the right, Barcelona's 'MSN' trio of the mid-late 2010s was one of the most lethal front threes ever seen in modern football, with the three stars combining to score an outrageous 364 goals between them in just three seasons.
As a result, some people would say Messi's best position is on the right of a forward three; however, the Athletic's assertion that "At his best, he combines elements of these three roles [right-winger, false nine and classic No. 10]" with this fluidity meaning "defenders can watch endless hours of footage and still find him impossible to stop" seems fair.
In the latter stages of his career, Messi has usually started games on the right of a front three like he often did at Barca. At least, that's what the teamsheet will say; in reality, his dazzling shows at the Qatar World Cup tended to rely on him having a free role, with striker Julian Alvarez and the rest of his teammates covering Messi's running while the elder statesman lingered around in forward areas, waiting for the right moment to spring into action.
The Athletic reported that unlike most players, he spent the vast majority of this tournament walking slowly around: "No player in the first round of group-stage matches at this World Cup walked more than Lionel Messi. He walked 4,625 metres in Argentina's 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia… His general operating pace is so slow that the fleeting injections of urgency make those decisive moments even more spectacular."
He's continued playing in this way since arriving at Inter Miami in the summer of 2023, and he's been equally devastating, registering 34 goals and 18 assists in 39 matches for the MLS club.
Did Messi Create the False Nine Position?
The position of the false nine — a creative-minded central forward tasked with dropping into deeper positions to receive the ball and link up with midfielders and wingers — has enjoyed increased prominence in the game over the last 15 years. Messi's extremely high productivity and success in this role has caused some people to wonder whether he is the man who pioneered this position, but that is not the case.
In fact, the false nine position can be traced all the way back to the 1930s, when the iconic Austrian national team managed by Hugo Meisl (given the nickname the "wunderteam" and widely credited to have been a forerunner to the Dutch philosophy of 'Total Football') employed centre forward Matthias Sindelar in this role.
Later, Johan Cruyff, a key architect of the aforementioned Dutch style of play, often utilised the false nine role as Barcelona manager with Denmark forward Michael Laudrup gaining a reputation for his ability to drop deeper into midfield and create.
In the modern era, the likes of Italy and Roma's Francesco Totti, Spain, Barcelona and Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and Brazil and Liverpool's Roberto Firmino have also been known to occupy a similar role. If you want to learn more about how this position works check out our detailed guide to the false nine role.
Is Messi the Greatest Footballer of All Time?
Messi's fluidity as a forward — his knack for causing havoc whether he's roaming around up front on his own, playing on the right wing, operating as a false nine or moving even deeper as a more classic Number 10 — is partly what makes him the greatest player in the world in some people's eyes.
The Argentine has won everything there is to win in the game, from the FIFA World Cup and Copa America with his country, to the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Ligue 1, the Copa del Rey, the Club World Cup and the MLS Supporters' Shield at club level.
He's won a record eight Ballon d'Ors and inspired multiple generations of football fans with his intelligent playmaking, exquisite dribbling skills and consistently brilliant finishing ability.
Over the course of his career, Messi has scored 850 goals and registered 379 assists in 1083 games (that works out as one goal contribution every 72 minutes, a phenomenal record). Stats like that show why a huge number of people believe that Messi is the Greatest Of All Time.
However, football is a matter of opinion and there are several other players who have to be in the conversation, from other modern stars like Cristiano Ronaldo to legendary long-retired pros like Diego Maradona and Pele. If you want to read more about some of the greatest football icons of all time, check out our guide to the top 10 Premier League goalscorers of all time.
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