Pep Guardiola has once again hailed Lionel Messi as the greatest footballer of all time - weighing in on the debate after Argentina's triumph in Qatar.
Messi, 35, finally won the prize he had craved the most as Argentina beat France on penalties after an enthralling 120 minutes in the final of the World Cup.
The Argentine scored twice, taking his tally of goals in the tournament to seven, leading him to also claim the player of the tournament award - his second such award of his glittering career.
Speaking in the aftermath of Argentina's first World Cup triumph since the Diego Maradona-inspired victory in 1986, Guardiola hailed his former player - while also congratulating one of his current stars in Julian Alvarez.
'Everyone has an opinion but nobody can doubt that he is there, with the greatest of all time,' said the Manchester City boss. 'For me I said many times, he is the best, but it will be difficult to understand.
'A player can appear and compete with what he has done in the last 50 years to 70 years, but the people who saw Pele or [Alfredo] Di Stefano or Maradona, they can say their favourite.
'In their opinions they are sentimental, you know? But on the other side, if he [Messi] had not won the World Cup, my opinion about what he has done for world football, it wouldn't have changed absolutely anything. Of course, for him it's the final achievement of an incredible career.'
Earlier this season, a video emerged showing Guardiola extolling the virtues of Messi to his players in a team talk.
'Do you know why Messi is the best player I've ever seen in my life?' he asked them.
'Because he is a competitor. He's an animal. And now, we pass the ball, we take a look. When you pass the ball, attack here!'
Guardiola prior had congratulated Alvarez, as well as Nicolas Otamendi - who spent four seasons under the tutelage of Guardiola at Manchester City.
'We are incredibly happy for him [Alvarez], congratulations to him and Nicolas Otamendi, and personally to Lionel Messi,' said Guardiola.
'For Argentina as a country, they are a well-deserved champion. For Julian, he is with us and we are delighted because he played a lot.
'His contribution was amazing for the team and the way they played. We have a world champion in our team.'
D10S_LM10
426
With or without WORLD CUP he was always G.O.A.T ππ¦π·π
D10S_LM10
279
They called him international failure π Messi answer his critics on the field. ππ¦π·LM7_LM10
DilipBiswas
194
Egg Who???
DilipBiswas
184
Messi is the undisputed Goat of football
mohamedabdi143
145
The debate is over Messi is the πππ
sodex12345
114
I don't know why people will come here and say rubbish, do you see Pele or Cryuff play, I did not even withness maradona play. I have watched football for 2decades, 2002 till present. I have seen a lot of great players with different attributes. I haven't seen anyone like Messi. forget the debate or no debate. All the great players have different attributes, is it zidane, Figo, Beckham, lampard, Ronaldinho, iniesta, Seedorf, Davids and so on to mention few, they are all great. but messi is the greatest. accept this and know peace. for Ronaldo, he is a God in his own lane and you can't take anything away from his achievement. if I will rank greatest of all time. Messi will always be number 1, I will rank Ronaldo ahead of any other be you Pele be you maradona, I did not see you play and from what their achievement and co, they are still behind Ronaldo except for the world cup trump they had. Having world cup didn't take them ahead of Ronaldo. Giroud has a world cup and even champion league but if ranking great strikers , he can't be rank ahead of delima Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic. my opinion though, if you like attack like a baby π₯
Paulamadubassie
108
Not even from pep the debate is over seen, even former super world power president has said it. π€π€π
harsh1988
72
Doxmang
65
Pep Guardiola: βEveryone has opinion but nobody can doubt Lionel Messi is there as the greatest of all time
NotAFan
33
ndabawubafo
22
Super Ballon D'or and Eight Ballon'D'or load..... for G.O.A.T
bihbdiln
16
COUNTING DOWN TO THE WORLD CUP, DSTV SHOWED A LOT OF PAST WORLD CUPS FEATURING PELE, CRUYF, EUSEBIO ETC....IT WAS LIKE WATCHING COLLEGE TEAMS PLAYING...NO INTENSITY, NO PATTERN, NO FORMATION... JUST KICKING THE BALL UP AMD DOWN THE FIELD...I HAVE ALSO WATCHED A LOT OF PELE, EUSEBIO, CRUIYFF, HIGHLIGHTS AND I FIND IT VERY HARD TO UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ARE BEING COMPARED TO THE LIKES OF MESSI ,RONALDO, RONALDINHO IN THE GREATEST OF ALL TIMES DEBATE....SINCERELY YHEY DONT COME CLOSE...SENTIMENTS APART.
Rathan_hp
12
I don't know why people will come here and say rubbish, do you see Pele or Cryuff play, I did not even withness maradona play. I have watched football for 2decades, 2002 till present. I have seen a lot of great players with different attributes. I haven't seen anyone like Messi. forget the debate or no debate. All the great players have different attributes, is it zidane, Figo, Beckham, lampard, Ronaldinho, iniesta, Seedorf, Davids and so on to mention few, they are all great. but messi is the greatest. accept this and know peace. for Ronaldo, he is a God in his own lane and you can't take anything away from his achievement. if I will rank greatest of all time. Messi will always be number 1, I will rank Ronaldo ahead of any other be you Pele be you maradona, I did not see you play and from what their achievement and co, they are still behind Ronaldo except for the world cup trump they had. Having world cup didn't take them ahead of Ronaldo. Giroud has a world cup and even champion league but if ranking great strikers , he can't be rank ahead of delima Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic. my opinion though, if you like attack like a baby π₯
A True football fan will agree with you
isahriyo
9
I don't know why people will come here and say rubbish, do you see Pele or Cryuff play, I did not even withness maradona play. I have watched football for 2decades, 2002 till present. I have seen a lot of great players with different attributes. I haven't seen anyone like Messi. forget the debate or no debate. All the great players have different attributes, is it zidane, Figo, Beckham, lampard, Ronaldinho, iniesta, Seedorf, Davids and so on to mention few, they are all great. but messi is the greatest. accept this and know peace. for Ronaldo, he is a God in his own lane and you can't take anything away from his achievement. if I will rank greatest of all time. Messi will always be number 1, I will rank Ronaldo ahead of any other be you Pele be you maradona, I did not see you play and from what their achievement and co, they are still behind Ronaldo except for the world cup trump they had. Having world cup didn't take them ahead of Ronaldo. Giroud has a world cup and even champion league but if ranking great strikers , he can't be rank ahead of delima Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic. my opinion though, if you like attack like a baby π₯
Wow sensitive commentβ
ElTrinity
8
I don't know why people will come here and say rubbish, do you see Pele or Cryuff play, I did not even withness maradona play. I have watched football for 2decades, 2002 till present. I have seen a lot of great players with different attributes. I haven't seen anyone like Messi. forget the debate or no debate. All the great players have different attributes, is it zidane, Figo, Beckham, lampard, Ronaldinho, iniesta, Seedorf, Davids and so on to mention few, they are all great. but messi is the greatest. accept this and know peace. for Ronaldo, he is a God in his own lane and you can't take anything away from his achievement. if I will rank greatest of all time. Messi will always be number 1, I will rank Ronaldo ahead of any other be you Pele be you maradona, I did not see you play and from what their achievement and co, they are still behind Ronaldo except for the world cup trump they had. Having world cup didn't take them ahead of Ronaldo. Giroud has a world cup and even champion league but if ranking great strikers , he can't be rank ahead of delima Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic. my opinion though, if you like attack like a baby π₯
π€―πππ wonderful comment, very sensitive, you have said it all