Bayern Munich coach Josep Guardiola's pregame prediction that it was impossible to stop an on-form Lionel Messi proved correct in Wednesday's 3-0 Barcelona win in their Champions League semifinal first leg, blaugrana defender Gerard Pique has said.
Guardiola told the pregame news conference that "no system, no defender" could deal with Messi when he was at his best, and the Argentine was indeed the match-winner with two excellent strikes in four minutes just as it seemed a tense game was likely to end scoreless.
Speaking on Canal Plus directly after the final whistle, Guardiola's former charge Pique said that the "inspired" Messi had been just as unstoppable as Pep had said.
"Guardiola knows Messi well and knows that when he is inspired then nobody can stop him," Pique said. "He scored two fantastic goals."
Pique also hailed an excellent all-round team performance from the Catalan side.
"We played a sensational game," he said. "Defensively good, because they did not have any shots on target, and for a team like Bayern to not hit the target is sensational. Then we took advantage of our chances up front and did them a lot of damage on the break."
UEFA's postgame statistics showed Bayern had edged the battle for possession 53 to 47 percent, something which Pique said had not discomforted the current Barca team.
"We are used to not having control of the ball in different phases of the play," he said. "We do not feel uncomfortable. We knew this was going to happen."
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had earlier frustrated Barca with a string of top-quality saves of Luis Suarez and Dani Alves, leading the Spanish TV interviewer to suggest the German was now the world's best.
"I do not know if [Neuer] is the best in the world," Pique replied. "We ourselves have [Marc Andre] Ter Stegen and Claudio [Bravo]. He has quality, but we concede very few goals. That has something to do with our goalkeepers."
The return game at Bayern's Allianz Arena next Tuesday was not now a formality, Pique maintained, despite the 3-0 scoreline.
"You never know in football," he said. "They are a great team and their fans will pressure us a lot. We must score a goal there, so that they must get five."