Throughout his career, Pep Guardiola can show off he has managed great players, with Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland as two of the best ones. Now, Manchester City's coach has revealed what's the difference between both forwards with a surprising statement.

Pep Guardiola is one of the most successful coaches in soccer history. He knows the game perfectly, but he was also very lucky to manage some of the best players lately to help him grow through the years.

In Barcelona, he coached one of the greatest players of all time: Lionel Messi. But now, he is getting to know a new generation and of course Erling Haaland is set to be a superstar, but Guardiola knows there's still a huge difference between the two strikers.

Pep Guardiola reveals which is the main difference between Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland

It is known that Lionel Messi helped Pep Guardiola to succeed during his time at Barcelona. The Argentinian player and the Spanish manager were a dominant couple but, even when they took separate ways, they still earned lots of titles afterwards.

Now that Pep Guardiola is Manchester City's boss, he decided to hire Erling Haaland for the 2022-23 Premier League season. The Norwegian is one of the best strikers nowadays, but the Spanish manager still sees a difference between him and Messi.

"The difference is that Erling [Haaland] maybe needs all his mates [to score], but when he is there is unbelievable," said Pep Guardiola in an interview after the victory against Manchester United. "[Lionel] Messi has the ability to do it by himself."