Guardiola: Messi the best ever

Guardiola’s comments come after his side were eliminated from the Champions League via a 5-3 aggregate scoreline in their semi-final against Barcelona.

While Messi did not score in Bayern’s 3-2 victory in the second leg on Tuesday, he did play a lovely through ball to Luis Suarez, who went on to set up Neymar to level the score at 1-1 in the 15th minute.

However, Messi did inflict a lot of damage on the German outfit in the first leg last week, scoring two fantastic goals in Barcelona’s 3-0 win.

“Messi is just incredible, really strong, really fast, back to his best just as when I used to train him,” Guardiola, who coached Barcelona from 2008 to 2012, said during his post-match press conference. “He is the best player of all time. I can compare him with Pele. I am very proud of the years we spent together.”

Guardiola also lauded Barcelona manager Luis Enrique and added that the Catalans will be very hard to beat in the final, which will take place in Berlin on June 6.

“Luis Enrique does really good work. They do a good job. [Real] Madrid or Juve – that will be a great final,” he said. “Barcelona are very strong at the back, physically they are very strong and quick. And of course up front they are really strong.

“The only way you can stop players like that front three, you have to force them to run more. When Barcelona have the ball, they are very strong, there is nothing you can do about that.”

Even though he admitted that Bayern virtually handed Barcelona a spot in the final after the first leg, Guardiola was proud of the fight that his side put up in the second leg.

“In the Camp Nou we didn’t play that well, we gave them this big chance,” he said. “We have to have more presence in the penalty area, we had to get more balls in. Barcelona deserved to get into the final.

“I’m satisfied with the performance of my team… we needed this balance in the Camp Nou, didn’t have it.”

© FOX SPORTS ASIA