Pep Guardiola Gushes On Lionel Messi After Manchester City's Fall To PSG

After losing to Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has made a shocking admission about Lionel Messi.

Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League campaign this season is far behind compared to the previous one as Paris Saint-Germain now tops their group after a decisive 2-0 win on Tuesday.

Messi bagged the final goal of the game at the 74th minute to finally put his name on PSG’s goalscorers this season.

As expected, Guardiola was quizzed to comment on the subject.

According to Guardiola, they came in prepared but they are also well aware of what Messi can do and it was just “impossible” to stop his former Barcelona star.

"We dealt with PSG first of all, but we know it's impossible to control Leo [Messi] for 90 minutes," Guardiola told Sky Sports. "He was not much in touch with the ball - of course he was coming back from injury, he needed a bit of rhythm - but we know quite well when he can run and get close to the ball, he is unstoppable.”

"What we have done is minimize, as much as possible, these kind of options and create the chances that we could create and I'm satisfied with the way we played,” the manager added. "We did a really good game, but we should have scored goals and we didn't do it. That's why we lost."

Aside from Messi, Guardiola also acknowledged the contributions of PSG’s other attackers such as Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

"People can't deny that we were there,” the renowned coach pointed out. “We arrived here, we did our game, but it's always a risk when you lose the ball and they can make one pass, especially with (Marco) Verratti, an exceptional, extraordinary player, and make contact with Neymar and Messi and they can run, it's difficult.”

Messi, on the other hand, was thrilled to have finally scored a goal for PSG.

However, he also admitted that he is still “adapting” to his new team both on and off the pitch.

“I’m very happy to have scored,” Messi told Canal+. “I hadn’t been able to play recently and this was only my second game in this stadium. I’m adapting to my new team. The more we forwards play together, the better our relationship will be. We all need to grow together and improve and keep giving our best.”

“[Manchester City] were great opponents. It was very important for us to win the match after our [opening] draw against Brugge. I really wanted to get out there. I haven’t played much. I’m still getting used to my teammates, the team, and today was an important moment.”