‘He Did A Lot Of Harm To Football’ – Messi’s Intriguing Angle On Guardiola

Paris Saint-Germain forward, Lionel Messi has broken down how Pep Guardiola did a ‘lot of harm’ to football during his time at Barcelona with his philosophy – but the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner wasn’t criticizing his former manager, quite the opposite.

Messi spent four glorious seasons working under Guardiola at Barcelona during which time he won three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues and he’s categorically hailed the Catalan super-tactician as his best-ever boss.

Guardiola had a massive influence on Messi’s career and modern football in general. His emphasis on possession and overloads saw several managers emulate his methods.

During a rare sit-down interview with Movistar Plus, the former Barcelona superstar claimed: “Guardiola did a lot of harm to football. It seemed so simple and easy that everyone wanted to copy his style.”

Interviewer Jorge Valdano replied: “Exactly, in every division too, even in the third division central defenders were running forward.”

“He is special in the way he sees things, prepares for matches, and communicates. Guardiola did a lot of harm to football too because it seemed too easy, so simple that everyone wanted to copy it.

Messi then responded: “Yeah, later I found a lot of Guardiola around. That’s when you realize what we accomplished.”

But while Guardiola’s ways worked wonders for that iconic Barca team, his ‘Juego de Posicion’ approach arguably had a negative effect on the wider game as countless coaches tried (and failed) to imitate it. Messi continued:

Guardiola left Barca at the end of the 2011/12 campaign, after which Messi played under Tito Vilanova, Gerardo Martino, Luis Enrique, Ernesto Valverde, Quique Setien, and Ronald Koemen before joining PSG in 2021.