After Calling Pep Guardiola’s System ‘Confusing’, Lionel Messi Reveals Struggles Barcelona Players Faced During the ‘Golden Era’

FC Barcelona fans will always remain indebted to Pep Guardiola. It was largely due to the Spanish tactician that the Catalans got to enjoy their ‘Golden Era’ under his management. However, along with those glory days came significant struggles that Lionel Messi recently shed light on. Aside from describing his former boss’ system as ‘confusing,’ La Pulga revealed how players had a ‘hard time understanding‘ the iconic Barcelona philosophy that Guardiola had further implemented at Camp Nou.

The never-before-heard revelation was made in the latest interview with revered Argentinian journalist Juan Pablo Varsky on the ‘Clank!’ podcast. During the lengthy conversation, Juan questioned Messi how he managed to keep up with Blaugrana’s ‘Two-touch’ policy, given his playing style was different. To which, the Argentinian replied, “On the one hand, it was for the reason why I was there, not because they had chosen me for the player I was. They knew my way of being and I was not going to change because that was what I had done.”

Though Messi somehow managed to learn his way through the tactics and implemented them in his gameplay, the newbies didn’t understand at once. “Even a top player who came from the outside had a hard time understanding Barcelona’s game,” he said. Likewise, Messi quoted an example of Javier Mascherano, who had joined from Liverpool. The former PSG star insisted that it was difficult for the former Argentinian teammate to adapt as Barcelona used to play a ‘totally different game of football from the rest.’

It’s quite interesting to see that even a world-class player like Messi wasn’t able to grasp Guardiola’s game plan. But as soon as he did, well, the legendary striker wrote history—something which everyone is now eager to do, despite its complexity.

Lionel Messi reveals how Pep Guardiola has stolen the ‘spontaneity’ from modern soccer

While keeping up with the struggles, Lionel Messi also shed light on the problems that academies have started to face since the inception of the Pep Guardiola era. “The Guardiola era has caused a bit of confusion. Everyone wants to play like that now,” he said. While one might presume that implementing the iconic methods of the former Bayern Munich boss will greatly benefit youth players, Messi claims it’s actually the opposite.

“They tell six, seven-year-olds to play with two touches, quickly. At that age, what happened with me needs to happen for these kids… we shouldn’t take away their spontaneity,” he added. Perhaps Messi rather wants the academies around the world to let the budding talents enjoy the game for what it is and not entirely make them focus on the complexities of the tactical side.