"Lionel Messi is the best player of all time" - Guardiola

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is the best player ever, the Bayern Munich coach, Pep Guardiola, said after Barça eliminated his side 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 Pelé. 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 Barça’s 3-0 first-leg win when 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 Barça between 2008 and 2012, told reporters. “He is definitely back at his best.”
Messi, who last made the final under Guardiola in 2011 when Barça won it, has also scored 40 goals in La Liga this season as his side chase a treble trophy haul.

Messi’s role against Bayern was less of an executioner and more of an orchestrator as he fell deeper, allowing Neymar and Luis Suárez to receive his pinpoint passes.
 

Credit: Reuters

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