{"id":12977,"date":"2024-10-15T10:13:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T10:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/?p=12977"},"modified":"2024-10-15T10:13:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T10:13:41","slug":"pep-guardiola-crowns-lionel-messi-goat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/pep-guardiola-crowns-lionel-messi-goat\/","title":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola Crowns Lionel Messi the GOAT, But Acknowledges Pele and Diego Maradona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has reignited the age-old debate over the greatest footballer of all time, declaring Lionel Messi as the &#8220;best ever.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"5:1-5:276\">The former Barcelona boss, who coached Messi during his peak years at the Catalan club, offered his full endorsement of the Argentine superstar.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"5:1-5:276\">Guardiola&#8217;s praise comes as no surprise given the pair&#8217;s shared history and the unparalleled success they achieved together.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"7:1-7:237\">During Guardiola&#8217;s tenure at Barcelona, Messi became one of the most feared attackers in the world, breaking countless records and winning multiple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/english-ballon-dor-winners\/\">Ballon d&#8217;Or<\/a> awards.<\/p>\n<h2 data-sourcepos=\"7:1-7:237\">Guardiola Crowns Messi The GOAT<\/h2>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"9:1-9:349\">While <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/pep-guardiola-england-manager-fa-sound-out-manchester-city-boss\/\">Guardiola<\/a> acknowledges that his opinion might be seen as disrespectful to other football legends like Pel\u00e9 and Diego Maradona, he firmly believes that Messi&#8217;s achievements and unique abilities set him apart.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"9:1-9:349\">The City manager described Messi as a once-in-a-generation player, comparing him to sporting icons like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"9:1-9:349\">Speaking to Italian TV show\u00a0<em>Che Tempo, Che Fa<\/em>, Guardiola said, \u201cFor me, it\u2019s easy to say he\u2019s the best of all time, but the stars came together at the right moment.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"9:1-9:349\">&#8220;The GOAT? Maybe that\u2019s a lack of respect to Pele and [Diego] Maradona, but for me, he is. I\u2019ve never seen someone like him as a coach; you can\u2019t imagine him maintaining this continuity for 15-20 years.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"9:1-9:349\">&#8220;When you see him up close, you think of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan; we were lucky to work with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/footballontnt\/status\/1846128957273350414<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"11:1-11:319\">Messi, now 37, continues to defy expectations at Inter Miami in the MLS. His ongoing success, combined with Guardiola&#8217;s glowing endorsement, further solidifies his claim to the GOAT title.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"11:1-11:319\">Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/cristiano-ronaldo-youtube-mr-beast-subscriber-count\/\">Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a>, Messi&#8217;s longtime rival, is also still playing at the age of 39 for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"13:1-13:276\">As the debate over the greatest footballer of all time rages on, Guardiola&#8217;s declaration adds another layer to the discussion. While Messi&#8217;s achievements are undeniable, the legacies of Pel\u00e9 and Maradona will undoubtedly continue to be debated for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has reignited the age-old debate over the greatest footballer of all time, declaring Lionel Messi as the &#8220;best ever.&#8221; The former Barcelona boss, who coached Messi during his peak years at the Catalan club, offered his full endorsement of the Argentine superstar. Guardiola&#8217;s praise comes as no surprise given the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pep Guardiola Crowns Lionel Messi the Undisputed GOAT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pep Guardiola has reignited the age-old debate over the greatest footballer of all time, declaring Lionel Messi as the &quot;best ever.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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