'Having Messi was like Phil Jackson having Michael Jordan' - Guardiola says he owes former Barcelona star a 'good bottle of wine'

Pep Guardiola says that he owes Lionel Messi “a good bottle of wine” and has compared the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner with basketball legend Michael Jordan.

The pair won a plethora of honours while working together at Barcelona, including three La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues and two Copas del Rey.

Guardiola, widely regarded as one of the best coaches in history, feels that his Barca side would still have been a great team without the Argentine, but not nearly as successful.

Likening his former charge to a man often named as the greatest basketball player of all time, Guardiola told Ole: “What does Messi mean? Everything, everything, Messi is like Michael Jordan.

“It's like when Phil Jackson could feel that feeling that everything was flowing and there were no problems.

“I owe him a good bottle of wine to thank him for the contracts he allowed me to sign!

“We had an amazing group of players who helped him when we were together at Barcelona in those four years. There were a lot of stars at the right time and the right age for everyone, with Xavi, Carles Puyol and Andres Iniesta too.

“There was unique chemistry. Without Messi, we would still have won. But, would we have won so much? No, impossible.”

While Guardiola continues to enjoy a successful coaching career with Manchester City, many believe that Messi's time at the very top of the game is coming to an end.

Since swapping Barcelona for PSG in the summer, the attacker has failed to replicate the kind of form that helped the Blaugrana to countless pieces of silverware during his time at Camp Nou.

Indeed, the Argentine was of little use to the French side as they crashed out of the Champions League on Wednesday after Karim Benzema's hat-trick fired Real Madrid