Guardiola: Messi’s simply the best

(GSM) – On Wednesday, a superb Lionel Messi guided Barcelona past VfB Stuttgart and into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Afterwards, the managers of both clubs were full of praise for the Argentine superstar.

A double from Messi, Pedro’s first-half strike and a late goal from substitute Bojan Krkic sealed a solid 4-0 victory for Barcelona who advanced to the next round 5-1 on aggregrate. Barca coach Guardiola was satisfied with his side’s performance.

“We took to the pitch with great intensity and were aggressive in our approach; we never allowed any time to think,” he said. “Physically we are a small side but with the backing of our supporters we feel so big.”

Guardiola suprised everyone by benching big summer signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic while Thierry Henry started at the striker position.

“My intention (with Zlatan Ibrahimovic) is to get the absolute best out of him; he took my decision to put him among the substitutes well.

“I was delighted with Thierry Henry after the weekend win against Valencia; he is at his best when he’s on the wing but I still want more from him. He played well today (in a more central role) but I want more aggression in front of goal.

Guardiola had some sweet words for his Argentine wonderchild and claimed it doesn’t matter who they’ll face in the quarter-finals.

“Messi is simply the best. Every team in the quarter-finals is strong and when we get there we’ll have to produce two excellent games in order to advance”.

Stuttgart boss Christian Gross wasn’t surprised with the result but he was disappointed his side couldn’t put in the same effort as they did in the first leg.

“We were missing the bravery which served us so well three weeks ago,” said the Swiss manager. “With a better defensive performance we could have neutralised their midfield and given ourselves a chance.

“They were playing in front of their supporters and they are so strong, both individually and collectively. Maybe the fact Real Madrid were eliminated gave Barcelona extra motivation.”

Gross showed his realistic side by claiming Stuttgart had little chance of going through. The former Tottenham boss praised ‘fantastic talent’ Messi.

“Our chances (of going through) were always limited. They started coming at us so quickly and we tried our best to stay with the pace.

“Messi is the best player in the world; he’s a fantastic talent and it’s incredible to think he’s only 22. It’s fair to compare him to Maradona”.