Pep Guardiola has named a former Barca star GOAT” title=”Pep Guardiola has named a former Barca star GOAT”/>
Pep Guardiola has named a former Barca star GOAT © Getty Images
Pep Guardiola (53) is one of the most successful football coaches of all time. In a recent interview, the Catalan was asked who among the players he considers to be the GOAT (Greatest of all time). His answer may have surprised very few fans.
In the past, Guardiola has said several times that, in his eyes, Lionel Messi (37) is the best footballer of all time. During his appearance on the Italian show Che Tempo, Che Fa, he was happy to repeat this again.
“Maybe I don’t give enough credit to Pele or Diego Maradona, but he is the best player of all time. I saw this guy in training every three days, what Messi did was wonderful,” the long-time Barça coach recalled.
As is well known, Messi grew into a world star at FC Barcelona under Guardiola’s leadership. Between 2008 and 2012, the duo won three Spanish championships and two Champions League titles together before the successful coach left the club.
Lionel Messi played for FC Barcelona from 2004 to 2021 © sportgraphic / Shutterstock.com
Pep Guardiola raves about Lionel Messi
During this time, Messi apparently constantly amazed his coach at the time. “There were two goals and three assists in every game,” reported Guardiola. “I’ve never seen a player like him. It’s hard to imagine that he maintained this continuity for 15 to 20 years.”
Because of his enormous talent and his importance for football, Messi must also be compared with other icons of the sport. “When you see him up close, you think of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. We’re lucky that we were able to experience that because something like that only happens once in a lifetime,” announced the current Manchester City coach.
