Pep Guardiola has compared his professional relationship with Lionel Messi to that of legendary basketball player Michael Jordan and his former coach Phil Jackson.
Barca 'Reach Agreement' With AFCON Winner
The Manchester City boss has insisted he owes Messi "a good bottle of wine" for what the Argentine has done for his career.
During their four-year stint together at Barcelona between 2008 and 2012, the pair won a plethora of titles, with the club's most successful year coming in 2009 when they claimed six trophies, the first team to achieve this feat.
The Spaniard is adamant the iteration of that Barca side without Messi would still have been a great team, but would not have been nearly as successful.
"What does Messi mean? Everything, everything, Messi is like Michael Jordan," Guardiola told Ole.
"It's like when Phil Jackson could feel that feeling that everything was flowing and there were no problems.
"I owe him [Messi] 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 [Hernandez], 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."
Since going their separate ways in 2012, it seems that their careers have never hit the heights they once did as a combination. Although Messi won another treble with the Blaugrana post-Guardiola, he seems a shadow of his record Ballon d'Or-winning self at Paris Saint-Germain.
Guardiola, meanwhile, is yet to lift the Champions League trophy since his departure from the Camp Nou, despite the dominance he illustrated in Germany with Bayern Munich and now in England with City.
Here are the five players Xavi has signed since his appointment as Barca boss:
