6 Footballers Who Totally Betrayed Their Manager

By Andrew Pollard / August 9, 2019

The beautiful game is a fascinating ever-changing sport, and the growing impact of player power is something that constantly seems to be growing from season to season.

Nowadays, it's not always the case that the manager gets to call all of the shots or wield the most power. No, these days, it can often be a case of the inmates running the asylum as players and their ridiculously huge contracts can be the be-all and end-all of a club.

That in itself proposes so many potential risks and problems, but one particular issue this can throw up is how players can use their stock to screw over their managers and coaches. And sadly, this is something that has happened so many times over the years.

If a player isn't happy about something that the manager has said, how the manager is wanting to implement their tactics, or which position the manager wishes for a player to play in, a high-power footballer won't think twice about going over the manager's head or outright refusing to play.

Sticking with that school of thought, then, here are six such examples of brutal betrayals from players.

6. Lionel Messi Wields His Influence

And there you were, thinking Leo Messi was Mr. Nice Guy.

During Pep Guardiola's tenure in the Barcelona dugout, his relationship with Messi was often a tumultuous one.

Famously, Messi took particular umbrage with the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the Argentine reportedly instructed Pep to play him as a central striker and to put Zlatan out on the wing - otherwise Messi wouldn't play.

But that wasn't it for Messi - viewed by many as the greatest player in the history of the beautiful game - for he later had a falling out with Luis Garcia that saw the player train on his own as he looked to again reiterate how he was the power player at the Catalan Club.

No player in the world football has as much influence on their club as Lionel Messi, and he's clearly not afraid to screw over his manager if he sees fit.