Pep Guardiola is probably the best coach in history. He was at the helm of the best team in Barcelona’s history, and is now leading Manchester City into legend. However, the Catalan coach has admitted which team he thinks is closer to his own Barça, which he considers to be the best in history.
Who is the best team in the history of football? It’s a question that comes up time and time again. And for Pep Guardiola, the answer is clear: Barcelona with Messi, Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez. But the Manchester City coach has said that Argentina, world champions at Qatar 2022, are the second-best team in the history of football.
18 December 2023 marked the first anniversary of the title they won against France. So there was no better time to remember the prediction Pep Guardiola made about Lionel Messi before Argentina’s victory. And Julian Alvarez himself said it! Argentina arrived unbeaten in 36 games on their debut against Saudi Arabia, but a shock 2-1 defeat would undermine Guardiola’s predictions. But thanks to Messi, the Albiceleste have gone from strength to strength to win the 2022 World Cup. In any case, Pep Guardiola loves this team, which he compares to his own Barça.
“I think this team is impressive, it’s continuing to grow match by match, it’s playing better and better. The comparison with Barcelona, who were the best team in history, is a lot, but this team is very close,” he said of the Argentinian national team after the victory over Peru on 17 October 2023.
Guardiola made a prediction about Messi
Pep Guardiola is the most successful coach in Barcelona’s history, with 14 titles in four seasons. What’s more, the Catalan managed to lead Barça to victory in all six of the tournaments they contested during the 2008-09 season: League, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish and European Supercups and Club World Cup.
Lionel Messi has had a huge impact on Guardiola’s Barça. Guardiola even went so far as to say that the Blaugrana were the best team in the history of football. In a video, the Manchester City coach made a prediction about Lionel Messi ahead of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
It was one of the first days and Pep, the Portuguese, Rodri and the Spanish were there and they were talking about the teams that could win it (the World Cup),” explains Julien Alvarez during Star+’s ‘Campeones’ series. I asked him: ‘Do you know who has the best chance of winning the World Cup? And he pointed at me. He didn’t say anything,” said the Manchester City striker.
“Argentina are always a team that is there in the top three, the top five. I didn’t speak much, I’d just arrived here (England) and Pep obviously had confidence in what Argentina were like, because he knows several players who were in the national team, including Leo. So it was a bit because of that,” he added.
Everyone knows the rest of the story. Messi took Argentina all the way to the final against France, winning the trophy on penalties. The pulga finished as best player and second top scorer behind Mbappé. This feat earned him an eighth Ballon d’Or and a FIFA The Best trophy. Logically, Messi is widely regarded as the best footballer of all time since his World Cup triumph.
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