Ronaldinho denies Lionel Messi forced his Barcelona exit | OneFootball

In an interview with FourFourTwo, Ronaldinho insists that the real reason he left Barcelona was AC Milan, not Lionel Messi.

Ronaldinho said,  “It was easy – it was time to go. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of [Frank] Rijkaard, who was my coach and said great things about Milan.

“I had other options, but I wanted to play for Milan. As for that stuff about Messi, it’s not true; you shouldn’t always believe what you read.

“I always tried to be a good influence on him and actually try to do for him what Ronaldo did for me.

“I felt embraced by Ronaldo and I wanted Leo to have the same. Messi was always very shy, but always a fantastic player.

“We lived on the same street, so I had a great relationship with him and his family. Even then I knew he was a better player than me.”