Next in Line for the Captain's Armband
Next up, Lionel Messi will be the next captain of Barcelona following Andres Iniesta's departure. The Argentine will be the new owner of the 'senyera', and thus joins an illustrious list of players who emerged from Barcelona's youth divisions and became great references and leaders, both on and off the field.
More Than Just a Footballer
'La Pulga' is indisputable in terms of what he does as a footballer, but they say that being a captain involves many other things that go beyond the strictly sporting aspect, such as leadership, commitment, initiative, optimism, effort, and other characteristics that Leo surely possesses, and that previous illustrious captains like Josep Guardiola had.
'Pep' was one of the great captains that the team had until he left in 2001, passing the baton to Luis Enrique and Cocu - who, of course, did not come from 'La Masía' - but who in turn passed the armband to Carles Puyol.
'Tarzan' carried the 'senyera' until 2014, then gave the captain's armband to Xavi Hernández and later to Andrés Iniesta, who will leave at the end of this season so that the responsibility will fall on Lionel Messi from then on.
It's worth remembering that the Barça locker room had already made Messi the team's second captain, just behind Iniesta, in the last summer's voting. Behind Leo were Busquets and Mascherano, who left the vacant spot of fourth captain after his move to Chinese football last January.