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MUNICH. – Pep Guardiola hailed Lionel Messi as the best player in the history of the game as Barcelona booked their place in the Champions League soccer final.
Guardiola has also compared Messi to Brazil legend Pele as he backed former club Barcelona to win the Champions League.
Messi inspired Barca to a 3-0 first-leg victory that Bayern could not overturn, despite a 3-2 win in the return game on Tuesday night.
“He is the best player of all time,” Bayern Munich boss Guardiola said.
“I compare him with Pele. I am so happy to see this football. He is back, he is there where I had the privilege to train him.” Guardiola also said he wants to see his former club Barca go on and win the competition.
“When Barca have the ball they are extremely strong. I hope in Berlin they can win the fifth European Cup,” he said after the match.
Guardiola is now backing his ex-club Barcelona to win the Champions League after his Bavarian giants bowed out 5-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals on Tuesday night.
Guardiola’s Bayern exited at the last-four stage for the second year running, despite ending Barcelona’s 18-game unbeaten run with a 3-2 semi-final, second-leg win in Munich.
Bayern were given an early glimmer of hope in their bid to overturn a three-goal deficit in Munich when the unmarked Medhi Benatia headed home on seven minutes at the Allianz Arena.
But Barca effectively booked their place in the Berlin final on June 6 when Luis Suarez twice set up Neymar to score for the visitors before half an hour had been played. Bayern produced a rousing second-half performance with goals by Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller, but Barcelona advance to face either bitter rivals Real Madrid or Juventus in the final.
Having won 16 titles as a player, then a further 14 in four years as head coach at the Camp Nou, Guardiola is backing Barcelona to claim their first European crown since 2011 at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on June 6.
“I want to congratulate my players, I am really happy to be their manager on a day like today,” said Guardiola, as Bayern denied Barcelona a first win in Munich at the fifth attempt. But I hope Barcelona can now win their fifth Champions League title in Berlin.
“You can only beat Barcelona when you take the ball away from them, with it they are so strong.
“We didn’t make the most of our chances in the first leg, but here we did. It wasn’t enough at the end of the day, but there you go.
“I hope the Spanish league has the rights to be screened in Germany soon, so that fans here can appreciate what a good player Lionel Messi is on a regular basis.” – AFP.
Online Reporter