"We knew we were going to beat anyone with Guardiola"

Argentina forward Lionel Messi has claimed that his Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola "did a lot of damage to football because he made it look so simple that everyone wanted to copy", and he then realised how much he had done for the Barcelona side.

In an interview with 'Universo Valdano', Messi claimed that with Guardiola "everything was much easier" and that "Guardiola was something special".

"The Guardiola era was an incredible time. There was everything. Guardiola came and with what he taught us he made us grow as a team. He had a generation of players which was one-of-a-kind. It was impressive. Playing against whatever team and knowing you were going to win whoever you were against because of the way you were going to play", he said.

"We did it so easily and it was so natural that we didn't realise what we were doing. As time goes on you realise that it was once-in-a-lifetime. Guardiola did a lot of damage to football because it looked so easy that everyone wanted to copy. I was with Guardiola a lot there and you realise what we did. The best manager without doubt. He's got something special. To watch the games, to prepare for them and to get that message across to you", he said.

Messi thinks that the current Spain boss and ex-Barca manager Luis Enrique "is very similar to Guardiola". "Guardiola has something special, but Luis Enrique is like him in terms of the way he prepares for and reads the games. They look for the opponents' weaknesses to hurt them. He has the same philosophy. You can see that now in the national side. I know what it's like to work with him. This team is what he wants".

He also spoke about the current Argentina boss, Lionel Scaloni: "Scaloni always had a special personality. He's a great manager. His best aspect is his communication and how he manages the group. He chose to pick players that he believed were the best for the team. He's happy with his choice and he doesn't think about what the others say. The way you treat a player makes the group how it is".