Lionel Messi: Pep Guardiola on the first time he saw ‘small and shy’ Barcelona superstar

The diminutive youngster caught his manager's eye with two hat-tricks on a pre-season tour of Scotland

Pep Guardiola celebrates with Barcelona's Lionel Messi (AFP via Getty Images)

Pep Guardiola has revealed his first impressions of Lionel Messi after seeing the Argentine for the first time as a youngster on a pre-season tour of Scotland.

Barcelona’s record goal scorer went on to star in Guardiola’s Barcelona team, leading the Blaugrana to several La Liga and Champions League titles.

And the current Manchester City boss has admitted he expected to “win everything” after seeing what a teenaged Messi was capable of.

“I had already been told by someone from the squad that there was a very good player in the squad,” Guardiola told Catalunya Radio. “They told me that he was very young but scored many goals and he was very good.

“I did not know him and one day I saw him and his father at a Nike store. I saw him, he looked small and shy and I thought: ‘Is this one as good as they say?’

“We started pre-season in Scotland, we won 6-1, 5-0 and he would score three goals a game for you. I thought that, with him, we would win everything.”

Guardiola, having singled out Messi, went on to explain the special bond between the group of players he assembled at Barcelona.

“There was not much time to, but I enjoyed the process of building the team; seeing that the changes we made worked and everything was flowing; how they were brought together, the chemistry, the respect,” he added.

“They were a group of friends who went out to dinner often; a group that knew how to move forward in moments of difficulty.

“All this was very good, but the importance of leading such a big club as Barca means that you do not have much time to enjoy it.

“The relationship that we have with those who formed part of that group is insurmountable. There are no championships or world titles that can compensate. We gave each other a lot. But there is a moment, due to the natural process of time, that things end.”