Pep Guardiola makes Lionel Messi feelings perfectly clear - 'Maybe I'm disrespecting'
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explained why he believes Lionel Messi is the greatest footballer of all time, ranking him above Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele and Diego Maradona
Pep Guardiola has compared Lionel Messi to Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan when explaining why he believes he is the best footballer ever.
Guardiola coached Messi at Barcelona for four years, with the pair winning three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues together. Messi also scored 211 goals in 219 games under Guardiola's tutelage
"For me it's easy to say he's the best of all time, but the stars came together at the right moment," Guardiola told Italian TV Show Che Tempo Che Fa, as per Football Espana. "The GOAT? Maybe that's a lack of respect to Pele and Maradona, but for me, he is.
"I've never seen someone like him as a coach, you can't imagine him maintaining this continuity for 15-20 years. When you see him up close, you think of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan, we were lucky to work with him."
It is not the first time Guardiola has ranked Messi as the greatest footballer of all time, having hailed the Inter Miami star's achievements after he scored seven goals to help Argentina lift the World Cup in 2022.
"Everyone has an opinion but nobody can doubt that he is there, with the greatest of all time," Guardiola said at the time. "For me I said many times, he is the best, but it will be difficult to understand.
"A player can appear and compete with what he has done in the last 50 years to 70 years, but the people who saw Pele or [Alfredo] Di Stefano or Maradona, they can say their favourite. In their opinions they are sentimental, you know?
"But on the other side, if he [Messi] had not won the World Cup, my opinion about what he has done for world football, it wouldn't have changed absolutely anything. Of course, for him it's the final achievement of an incredible career."
In his appearance on Italian TV, Guardiola was also asked about the possibility of becoming England manager. "I haven't finished my career at Manchester City yet, I still have to think about it," he replied.
"It's not true that I'll be the England coach. I haven't decided anything yet, if I had decided my future at Manchester City I would say so, anything can happen in life."
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