Pep Guardiola has congratulated Manchester City's new world champion Julian Alvarez, and weighed in on the debate surrounding Lionel Messi's place among the all-time football greats.
Alvarez started five games as Argentina won the World Cup, including the final, and he scored four goals to end joint-third top scorer in the Qatar 2022 tournament. After playing a key role for his country, Alvarez is now enjoying the celebrations back in Buenos Aires, where millions have lined the streets to welcome Argentina back as world champions.
Guardiola was delighted to see Alvarez play such a key part in Argentina's success after his supporting role for City in the opening part of the season, as he confirmed the striker will get some well-deserved time off in the coming days.
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"We are incredibly happy for him, congratulations to him and [Nicolas] Otamendi, and personally to Messi." Guardiola said. "To Argentina as a country, well deserved world champions. We're delighted for Julian, he played a lot, his contribution was amazing for the team and the way they played.
"We have a world champion in our team. He'll have a week, ten days off. He played many games, lots of tension. He'll have a break, maybe until the days before the new year."
With Argentina lifting the World Cup, Messi has the game's top prize to go with his glittering collection of trophies, leading many to declare him as the undisputed greatest player of all time.
Having coached Messi at Barcelona, Guardiola has always hailed the Argentinian, and he explained how the World Cup doesn't affect his status in that all-time debate.
"Everyone has opinion but nobody can doubt he's there [among] the greatest of all time," Guardiola explained. "I've said many times, for me he's the best, It's difficult to understand a player can appear and compete what he's done in the last 15-17 years.
"The people who saw Pele or Di Stefano or Maradona can say their favourites. The opinions are often sentimental, but the other side, if he wouldn't have won the World Cup, the opinion of what he has done for world football and my opinion wouldn't change.
"It's normal that people depends if you win or you are evaluated. For him, the final cherries of an incredible career."
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