MUNICH: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is the best player ever, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday after the Spanish side eliminated the Bavarians 5-3 on aggregate to reach next month’s Champions League final.
“He is the best player of all time,” Guardiola said. “I compare him with Pele. I am so happy to see this football.”
Messi, who is enjoying a sensational season and has scored 10 goals in Europe’s elite competition alone, destroyed Bayern in Barca’s 3-0 first-leg win after scoring twice last week.
The diminutive Argentine was again instrumental as Barcelona eased into the European Cup final for an eighth time.
“He is back, he is there where I had the privilege to train him,” Guardiola, who twice won the Champions League with the 27-year-old in his four years at Barca between 2008-2012, told reporters. “He is definitely back at his best.”
Messi, who last made the final under Guardiola in 2011 when they Barca won it, has also scored 40 goals in La Liga this season as the Spanish side chase a treble of titles. Messi’s role on Tuesday was less of an executioner and more of an orchestrator as he fell deeper allowing Neymar and Luis Suarez to receive his pin-point passes. (Reuters)
