“If Guardiola conquers Europe without Messi I will bow down,” says Collymore

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola only deserves to be worshipped if he can win the European Cup without Lionel Messi, according to former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore.

Guardiola’s side face the grim prospect of failing at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League on Tuesday as they face Liverpool at the Etihad, trailing 3-0 from the first-leg.

And Collymore believes the Spaniard is yet to prove himself in the competition.

Writing in his column for the Daily Mirror, Collymore explained that many great managers would have also won the Champions League with the quality that Guardiola had at his disposal with Barcelona.

“If Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Jock Stein, Brian Clough and Carlo Ancelotti, or any number of managers, had had Guardiola’s Barcelona team, with Messi in it, they would have won the European Cups he did,” he wrote.

“And, unlike Guardiola, four of those I mentioned even managed to win the competition without the Argentine wizard — one of the greatest players of all time — in their sides. NaijaBet.com

“This is one of the reasons I’m still unable to bow down and worship at the altar of Pep alongside all those who profess him to be the greatest coach the game has seen.”

During his coaching career Guardiola has seen his side concede three or more times in the same match on 11 occasions in the Champions League.

While at the helm of Bayern Munich Guardiola saw Real Madrid put four past his side at the Allianz Arena in 2014 and then a Messi-inspired Barcelona did it at the Camp Nou a year later.

At City alone, Guardiola has seen his side concede three or more on five occasions, with Liverpool last week joining Barcelona, Celtic and Monaco (twice). NaijaBet.com

How much of a difference does having Lionel Messi make in the Champions League?

Lionel Messi is one of the best players in the world and he is certainly capable of winning a game on his own, but what is his record like in the Champions League?

In the last five years in the competition Messi has created over 100 chances by himself while scoring 46 goals. That is more than the entire Arsenal squad managed in the Champions League in 2015/16 and 2016/17 combined. NaijaBet.com

It is clear that Messi is a huge player and Guardiola has struggled to emulate the success in the Champions League that he had when Messi was one of his, but that would likely be the case for most coaches. 

The Spanish coach has not won the Champions League without Messi, with his only victories coming in his time at Barcelona in 2008/09 and 2010/11. NaijaBet.com

His chances of success in this season’s competition look to be slipping away with Manchester City needing to score at least three times against Liverpool on Tuesday night to keep their hopes of progress into the semi-finals alive.