FC Barcelona and Brazil legend Rivaldo has leapt to Argentine superstar Lionel Messi's defence by responding to former Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal's recent criticism of the Blaugrana skipper.
Van Gaal, 67, recently sent shockwaves around the football fraternity when he revealed his thoughts as to why he thinks Messi should shoulder the blame for Barca's failures in Europe over the past few seasons.
Rivaldo, who won the Ballon d'Or award in 1999, plied his trade under the Dutch tactician at Barca, but the pair did not see eye to eye, resulting in a well-documented feud that culminated in Van Gaal leaving the club after his second stint in Spain in 2003.
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The former AC Milan star has now weighed in on Van Gaal's sentiments on Messi, suggesting that the Dutchman is not in favour of individually gifted players as it takes credit away from coaches in charge.
"Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo are different players and neither the team nor the coach know how to do the extraordinary things they do, but lots of coaches don't like these players because they take the credit away from their coach," Rivaldo said on his official Instagram account.
"The coaches prefer to speak about these players as if they don't know how to play in a team, that they're only good individually.
"I played more than 24 years of football and I know very well that lots of coaches were very average when they played and others weren't even players.
"Today, as a coach, they want to tell their team to play as a team so they can get credit as a good coach. If you have a player like Pele, Johan Cruyff, Rivellino, Garrincha, Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo (Nazario), Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Romario, Kaka, Maradona, Zico, Mbappe, Figo, etc, it's easier, but it doesn't mean you're going to be champions.
"If you also don't have a team that plays tactically well, it doesn't mean you're going to be champions.
"I prefer different players because football is joy and everyone likes to see something different on the pitch.
"The team is always important, but you definitely need to have different players that will do something on the pitch."