Maradona and Guardiola

Rarely do the club managers meet to discuss their players, not that there is anything wrong with such a meeting. But is surely more than a visit when Diego Maradona, the national team manager of Argentina meets with Pep Guardiola, the coach of Barcelona.  Later, it was reported that the discussions were about protecting Messi from injuries at the crucial time of the World Cup qualifiers. The two managers took note of the fact that Barca was launching an onslaught in the next season including playing a number of friendly matches in preparation. It is also feared that a good player such as Messi may be injured in such friendly matches and miss out on the real World Cup matches.

Therefore after watching the Barca players train, Diego had a private meeting with Guardiola and Messsi. This meeting was different from other club agreements with AFA in the past. It was agreed that Messi be limited in his participation in the international friendly. This is a problem that Maradona understands all too well given that he himself once played for Barca.

Quite often, the players return from such friendly matches tired and possibly injured.  This was actually what was behind the meeting between Maradona and Guardiola. This agreement may guarantee Messi an opportunity to leave a good record in Barca just as was the case with Maradona who played for the same team.  Messi needs to continue in the same steps and leave an impressive record in Barca.