Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has slammed reports that forwards Messi and Villa do not see eye to eye. These latest reports are emerging on the backdrop of former Barcelona player Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s public rants and displeasure with the treatment he received while he was a Barca player.
Spanish newspaper Superdeporte claims that there is a trouble brewing at the Nou Camp between 2 of the clubs top players. Messi has been in fantastic form for the Catalans this season, while Villa has failed to make a strong impact on the league so far.
Honestly, i think the media make up news when there is no news to help sell their papers. That is not to say that these rumours are not true, however, it is hard to see how players of their calibre could resort to such petty jealousy.
Guardiola took time during the team’s pre match press conference in Bilbao on Saturday to make it clear that the rumours were not true.
“It is impossible to argue with David, both he and Leo are good people. He is very generous on the pitch and in his personal life, it’s impossible to fall out with David. Leo has been clear, David is clear, there is nothing [to the rumours],” Guardiola said.
When questioned by reports on Snippets of former striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s soon to be released autobiography, Guardiola took the high road and lavished praise on Ibrahimovic for the time he spent with the club.
“[I have] nothing to say. There was nothing personal. I just want to thank him for the year he gave us where we reached 99 points [in La Liga]. He played, he proved his quality and helped us reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. There is nothing more to say,” he concluded.
Today’s fixture against Bilbao will not be as easy as many people think. The Basque club is currently experiencing a run of good results at home and they will definitely be a hard nut to crack.
Having beaten Osasuna and Atletico Madrid at home and Salzburg away in the Europa League, Barcelona cannot afford to underestimate their opponents. This will be a tough match to predict (and Barca will be lucky to walk away with all the 3 points on offer), however, i still see the defending champs winning by the slimmest of margins.
