“He says he did it with Lionel Messi” – Samir Nasri opens up on s*x rule set by Guardiola which prevented muscle injuries to Argentine superstar
Samir Nasri has revealed that Pep Guardiola insists that his players, including Lionel Messi, have sex with their partners before midnight. Nasri said that Guardiola wants his players to sleep well at night, as it is needed to reduce muscle injuries.
Speaking to L'Equipe, Nasri claimed that Guardiola had a sex rule at Manchester City. The Frenchman added that the rule was also applied by the manager at Barcelona and every player had to follow it. He said:
"On a day off, Guardiola told us that anyone who wanted to have sexual relations should do so before midnight because they need to have a good night's sleep. He says he did it with [Lionel] Messi and since then he hasn't had a muscle injury."
Guardiola has previously admitted to making his players follow the rule. The Spaniard said that he wants his players to have an active sex life, but sleep is also important. He was quoted by GiveMeSport as saying:
"It's impossible to play good football if you don't have sex with your partner. I would never forbid that. If you're doing it, you play better."
Pep Guardiola calls Lionel Messi the greatest-ever player
Pep Guardiola has always insisted that Lionel Messi is the greatest-ever player to have played the game. He believes that the Argentine can do what all the legendary footballers have done in their careers and more.
The Manchester City manager spoke about his former player in December last year and was quoted by CNN as saying:
"Everyone has [an] opinion, but nobody can doubt that he's there with the greatest of all time. For me, I've said many times, he's the best. It's difficult to understand that a player can appear and compete what he has done in the last 50 or 70 years."
He added:
"The people who saw Pele, for example, or [Alfredo] Di Stefano or [Diego] Maradona … they can say they're my favorite because often these opinions are sentimental. But, on the other side, if he [Messi] wouldn't have won the World Cup, the opinion of what he has done for the world of football, in my opinion, of how he is as a player wouldn't have changed absolutely anything. For him, it is the final cherry on an incredible career."
Guardiola managed Lionel Messi at Barcelona for four seasons and won the UEFA Champions League twice, the La Liga title thrice and the FIFA Club World Cup twice.