Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola, the current manager of Manchester City, was asked about the current situation of Lionel Messi and wished that he could return to Barcelona so that “he can say goodbye as he deserves”.
“I am a member of Barcelona, I have my two places in the Camp Nou (stadium), and I only hope that one day we can fire him as he deserves,” said one of the most winning coaches in the club’s history in an interview with ESPN.
In this sense, he considered that Messi is “the greatest player of all time” and stressed that the “boom” that the “culé” team was due to what the Argentine did on the field of play.
“I know that the president (Joan) Laporta has great esteem for ‘Leo’ and since he left, he referred to the fact that he deserves to have a goodbye as the great personality that he is. ‘Leo’ helped Barcelona to be much more bigger than when he arrived. When a person is that big, he deserves to be fired well”, opined ‘Pep’.
In this way, he was optimistic about the possibility that his return materializes: “I hope that the day will come when I am in my place and can get up, applaud him and send him off as ‘Leo’ deserves. And I know that Joan (Laporta ) is going to try and Leo too, so that he and his family can receive the love that we all have for all the gratitude and respect that he has shown for the club”, he concluded.
Guardiola and Messi shared in Barcelona between 2008 and 2012 and, in that period, the club won three Spanish Leagues, two Champions League, two Copa del Rey, three Spanish Super Cups, two European Super Cups and two Club World Cups.
