Lionel Messi has claimed that the approach Pep Guardiola used at Barcelona has ended up doing a lot of harm to football.
The Argentine forward played some of his best football under the guidance of Guardiola at Barcelona in what is widely regarded as the best club side in history.
Speaking during an interview with Movistar programme ‘Universo Valdano’, he recalled his time at Barcelona with Guardiola and Luis Enrique when they were his coaches.
“Guardiola did football a lot of harm because everything we did seemed very simple and everyone wanted to copy him,” Messi remarked.
“After that period I’ve met a lot of Guardiola-style teams and then you realise what we did.
“Pep has something special to prepare the games, to see them, to analyse them and to communicate.”
Messi celebra un gol con Argentina.
Messi’s thoughts on Luis Enrique
He also spoke about Luis Enrique, with whom he had some problems at first, but in the end they ended up with a very good relationship.
“I was coming back from Argentina after the holidays and we were playing on January 2 or January 3, I don’t remember well, and I ended up on the bench,” he said.
“We had an argument that lasted a ‘little while’, but then we maintained a spectacular relationship until the last day.
“When he decided to leave, we told him to stay, not to leave, that we were fine.”
Guardiola is now the manager of Manchester City in the Premier League, Luis Enrique is in charge of Spain and Messi is playing for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1.
