Lionel Messi is “difficult to manage” according to Quique Setien, who was sacked as Barcelona coach in August after little over six months in charge.
Setien was put in post at Camp Nou in January but lost his job after the failure to win La Liga coupled with the humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals meant his position was untenable.
The coach had to deal with an unpopular president and a team struggling on the pitch, but in an interview with El Pais, Setien also said that managing the enormous talent of Messi was tricky – comparing his star power to that of Michael Jordan in the Netflix documentary, The Last Dance.
“I think Messi is the best of all time,” Setien said. “There have been other great players who have been great, but the continuity that this boy has had throughout the years has not been had by anyone.
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“Leo is difficult to manage. Who am I to change him? If they have accepted him as he is for years and have not changed him.
“There’s another facet beyond just the player and it’s more difficult to manage. Much more difficult. It’s something inherent in many athletes that can be seen in the Michael Jordan documentary. You see things you don’t expect.
“He’s very reserved but he makes you see the things that he wants. He doesn’t talk much.”