Messi calls for Guardiola stay

Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi believes that Barcelona s future success hinges on Pep Guardiola staying at the club.

Guardiola has led the Catalan outfit to 13 titles since succeeding Frank Rijkaard in 2008, but his future at Camp Nou remains in doubt as he is out of contract at the end of the season.

Messi, who scored his 50th goal of the season in all competitions in Sunday s 2-0 win over Racing Santander, believes the former Spain international is the key to Barca s success and hopes he signs a new deal.

It would be difficult to find a replacement, Messi told reporters.

Barcelona has four years of playing well for him. For me, he is more important than me at Barcelona.

Guardiola has been linked with both Chelsea and Inter in recent weeks, while there is also speculation that he might opt to take a year-long break from the game.

Messi revealed that the players are just as much in the dark over Guardiola s future as the press and the fans.

We are like you, waiting for him to decide whether to stay or not, the Argentine said.

We want him to continue with us for the good of all, first for us, and then for the club.

It would be very difficult to find another coach to do what he has done. We played well because of how he prepared us in training and how he wants us to play games.

Guardiola rose through the Barcelona youth ranks before spending 11 seasons with their first team during his playing days, returning to the club in 2007 to take charge of the B side.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *