Barcelona vs Manchester City - Guardiola irritated by suggestions to poach Barca's finest

Pep Guardiola was irritated on his return to Barcelona by suggestions he tried to poach the Nou Camp's finest for Manchester City this summer.

But the former Barca boss claimed it was not beyond the realms of possibility that superstar Lionel Messi could play in England one day.

Guardiola, who won 14 trophies in four glorious years in charge of Barca, was speaking at the Nou Camp ahead of City's Champions League clash with the Catalan giants on Wednesday.

The 45-year-old has already signed goalkeeper Claudio Bravo from his old club since arriving at City and was also interested in fellow stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

But he insisted that is as far as his interest in former Barca players went when the subject was raised by a local journalist.

Guardiola, speaking through an interpretor, said: "If you are talking about this summer, I never called Messi. I never called Neymar, Luis Suarez, Busquets, Iniesta - I didn't call anybody.

"As for Ter Stegen I knew that he wanted to play all the time. We got in touch. He wasn't happy with his situation.

"We needed a goalkeeper like Claudio or Ter Stegen. Claudio came and Ter Stegen decided to stay.

"If I ever called a player playing in any other club it would be in a special situation of not playing, and it would be my right to. It is okay, I could have phoned someone if he was not playing, but I never called Leo Messi.

"In the case of Leo I really wish him to play here and finish his career here - play here for a long time.

"But maybe he will think, 'Okay I want to go play somewhere else' because maybe he wants his kids to speak English or live a different experience, like happened to many of us.

"Maybe it could happen, but if he decides to go and it happens, there would be a list of seven or eight clubs that would want to sign him, and it would be down to him. Messi will decide where to go."

City go into the game second in Group C, behind Barca, after being held to a draw by Celtic in their last outing.

Guardiola said: "We need points. If you lose two points against the fourth (seeded team) in your group you are forced to wait until the last matchday to progress to the next round.

"We are going to play against one of the best teams in the world and we have to see how we respond. It is not a friendly game. We need the points."

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique expects Manchester City to prove formidable Champions League opponents

He said: "We have already said how difficult this game is going to be, not only because of the quality and high class of their players individually, but as a team.

"You can already see, at the beginning of the Premier League, many differences compared to previous seasons. You can already see the hands of Guardiola and I am sure the team will keep improving. They play very attractive football.

"For us it is a great challenge and not only because we are trying to get first place in the group. It is Man City led by Pep. We know it is going to be more difficult than previous seasons."

Enrique was speaking at a press conference to preview the game along with long-serving defender Gerard Pique, who was full of praise for his old manager.

The former Manchester United player said: "Guardiola made a mark on all of us one way or another. There was a before and after and we understand football in a different way since he was here.

"I can only praise a coach that gave us so much. I came from not playing at Manchester United and here he gave me everything.

"City are very different to last year, obviously because Pep is in charge and has changed their way of understanding football.

"It'll be a challenge for us because it's a team that plays in a very similar way to us. They'll pressure us a lot high up and it will be hard for us to keep the ball."