Of course, Juliano Belletti, Pedro Rodríguez, David Villa, Ivan Rakitic, and Neymar, all goal scorers in Champions League finals that FC Barcelona won, are now featured in the ‘Historical Players’ section on the club’s website. Recently, Barça corrected an oversight that was brought to light by MD.
These five heroes from Paris 2006 (Belletti), Wembley 2011 (Pedro and Villa), and Berlin 2015 (Rakitic and Neymar) were not initially considered ‘legends’. This was evident from their absence in a list of 103 players from the club’s history, which has now been updated to 108.
The mistake was noticed when it was discovered in late February that Dani Alves was missing from the original list of 103 players, likely due to ongoing legal issues. However, he was added back shortly after and remains on the list. Upon reevaluation of which players should be considered historic for the club, it seemed odd that players who scored in Champions League finals were not included.
Nevertheless, it’s important to note that this is not an official ranking of ‘historic’ or ‘legendary’ players, as FC Barcelona does not retire jerseys or give out awards based on this. There will always be differing opinions on who should be recognized in this way.
This content has been translated and adapted from the Spanish version of the digital newspaper
