The superb story of how Guardiola used Messi to kickstart his era of dominance at Man City | CPT PPP Coverage

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Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola are one of the greatest player-manager combinations that football has ever seen.

For the four precious years that Guardiola watched Messi tearing teams apart from his Barcelona technical area, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the beautiful game couldn’t get anymore beautiful.

After all, it was under Guardiola’s stewardship that Messi scored a barely believable 73 goals across the 2011/12 season and set the wheels in motion for his world-record 91 strikes in 2012.

Guardiola’s love for Messi

And although it’s now been more than a decade since the legendary pair collaborated, it’s clear to see that Guardiola still uses his experiences with Messi as part of his management to this day.

In fact, just this year, footage of Guardiola giving a half-time team talk to his Manchester City squad at Club Brugge emerged where he explained why Messi is the best footballer that he’s ever seen.

And Guardiola has been extolling the virtues of Messi from day one at the Etihad Stadium with a fantastic story by Samir Nasri outlining yet another case of the Argentine continuing to be at the forefront of his former coach’s mind.

That’s because Nasri explained as part of an interview with Canal + in 2021 that Guardiola asked his City players whether Messi was there ahead of his first season in charge in 2016/17.

Why did he ask that? Well, because Guardiola wanted to make a very specific point.

According to Get French Football News, Nasri recalled: “He spoke to us about Messi at the start of the [2016-17] season to get a message across.

“He told us he would be our friend, up until the first matchday of the season, at which point he would have to make choices. So some players were going to be unhappy.

“He asked us in the dressing room: ‘Is Lionel Messi in here?’. So we all looked at each other, and said, no, he isn’t here. ‘So you don’t have the right to talk, because he’s the only player I would never put on the bench, he’s allowed to sulk’.”

Not only is that quite an emphatic way for Guardiola to get across the point that he wants everyone to quit moaning, but it also just goes to show how special and different Messi truly is.

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How does Guardiola feel about Messi?

Guardiola isn’t afraid to nail his colours to the mast and say that Messi is the greatest footballer he’s ever seen to the point that, yes, he can be treated a little differently to the others.

“Messi is someone that he greatly appreciates,” Nasri added. “They benefited from each other as he started him through the middle, and Messi won him titles – so they have that kind of relationship.

“I would agree what he said because at Barcelona Messi was unplayable, he’s in the discussion for best player of all time. He has the right to not be happy, to come on or come off.”

Messi might never have made the move to City that was once regularly touted for him, but you can rest assured that as long as Guardiola remains at the Etihad, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner will always be there in spirit.

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