Revealed: Lionel Messi nearly ’sucked into’ Ronaldinho’s party lifestyle during early days at Barcelona - with Blaugrana legend playing bongos ‘until two in the morning’

Lionel Messi was nearly 'sucked into' Ronaldinho's party lifestyle in his formative years at Barcelona, according to a new documentary.

The programme which charts Guardiola's rise from player to successful manager zeroes in n the pivotal decision to replace Frank Rijkaard with the untested Guardiola with former board member Xavier Sala-I-Martin making some revealing comments on how the ill-disciplined end to the Rijkaard era nearly set a young Messi on a very different path.

"Ronaldinho plays bongos until two in the morning every night," explained Sala-I-Martin on the BBC documentary Pep Guardiola: Chasing Perfection. "Everybody sees that, everybody has cellular phones and takes pictures of him. Everyone knows — we have a discipline problem.

"Ronaldinho is getting older, partying all the time, trying to suck Messi into his lifestyle. How do you stop it? Well we need a sergeant, we need a general."

Sala-I-Martin goes on to say that Jose Mourinho was regarded as the man to restore order, but was seen to lack the 'Barcelona DNA' leaving the board to turn to B team boss Guardiola as Rijkaard's replacement. The rest is history, as Guardiola ushered in a new era, discarding Ronaldinho and placing Messi at the centre of his project.

Messi played for Guardiola 219 times, scoring 211 goals. In their four seasons together they won three league titles, two Copa del Reys and two Champions League finals.