Lionel Messi paid tribute to Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and his teammates on Tuesday, a day after winning the Golden Ball by a record margin.
The Argentina forward won the European Footballer of the Year award with the biggest margin ever after helping the Spanish club win the Champions League, Spanish league and Copa del Rey titles last season.
Golden Ball Award
Messi said Guardiola's arrival at the start of last season brought calm to the team, which had been marked by locker room feuds in recent years.
"I've always said that he's been a very important person, not only for me but for the whole group. There's a special relationship that is more than just a player-coach one," Messi said. "The titles we won with him have been the key to winning the Golden Ball."
The 22-year-old Messi received 473 of a possible 480 points to beat Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, last year's winner, by 240 points.
Guardiola arrived at the Camp Nou with limited coaching experience and transformed the team into the world's best, selling Ronaldinho and Deco and, eventually, Samuel Eto'o, as he brought order to a team whose onfield results were being marked by internal bickering.
"Everything would be a lot more difficult without them," Messi said of his teammates. "In previous years there was internal fighting and we weren't able to achieve anything. With the change this year I was able to win this prize."
Guardiola said that the difference between Messi and the rest was in "his head. It's his competitive soul."
