Barcelona vs Manchester City: Pep Guardiola leaves door open for Lionel Messi reunion ahead of Champions League clash
Etihad boss Guardiola faces the Barcelona superstar at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night
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PEP GUARDIOLA has left the door open for a reunion with Lionel Messi at Manchester City.
Etihad boss Guardiola faces the Barcelona superstar at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night in a blockbuster Champions League clash.
Former Barca chief Guardiola denied reports he called Messi in the summer — and expects the Argentine ace to finish his career with the Catalan giants.
But the Etihad top brass believe Messi COULD be tempted by City if he ever decides to take on a new challenge.
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And Guardiola refused to rule it out. He said: “I never called Leo Messi.
“But maybe he will think, ‘OK I want to play somewhere else’. Maybe he wants his kids to speak English, or to live a different experience.
“That happened to many of us. Maybe it could happen.
“But if he decides to go, then there would be seven or eight clubs that would want to sign him — and it would be down to him.
“Messi will decide where to go.”
Guardiola revealed he spoke with Barcelona keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen before sealing a move for his Nou Camp team-mate Claudio Bravo this summer.
Guardiola added: “As for Ter Stegen, I knew he wanted to play all the time. We got in touch.
“He wasn’t happy with his situation. We needed a goalkeeper like Claudio or Ter Stegen. Claudio came and Ter Stegen decided to stay.”
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique says City’s financial muscle means they can target ANY player in the world. And the Guardiola factor means it would be no shock if he does one day come after Barca stars.
Pique added: “With a club that has a financial capacity like City, they can sign anyone, so it’s no surprise.”
Guardiola admits his City side will have their work cut out to stop Messi and Co punishing them in Group C.
He said: “With great players — Leo, Neymar, Suarez — when they have the ball they are very good.
“You need to be aggressive and make sure they have the ball as little as possible. We should try to avoid that.”
City defender Pablo Zabaleta added: "Of course it’s not same when you play in group stage and the round-of-16 like the last two times, especially as the first game was at the Etihad Stadium and when we come to the Camp Nou with a defeat it’s really hard.
"Now it’s different. We’re looking for three points, if we have a chance to win, we still need to win to maybe go through to the next round. We’re 100 percent focused on winning it."