We don’t need to tell you who was in the spotlight in the press conferences of the managers, Pep Guardiola and Robin Dutt. Yes, yes, it is the smiling man in the picture above. Both men, much like the world, were in awe of Messi’s performance, and heaped praise on the Argentinean player who has made a habit of making the extraordinary ordinary. Read their thoughts on Messi and the match after the jump.

Pep Guardiola

“You won’t see anyone like him in your lifetime and neither will I. We witnessed one of Messi’s special nights tonight, it’s a gift and I will always be able to say that I coached him. The only credit I can take is that I always put him in the team and we just try to make sure he gets the ball. After that our task is done. ”

“Messi already deserves a tribute because it’s incredible that he is seven short of Cesar at the age of only 24. It’s not easy to score five goals in a single game and that’s coming from someone who scored 11 in his entire career. He is unique for his innate talent and his capacity to compete and he teaches us how to compete too.”

“I have to also say that [Andrés] Iniesta played magnificently too.”

“We’ve reached the quarter-finals for the last five years now and that says something about the great stability here. This really is the most beautiful competition. The team we were facing tonight eliminated Valencia and only a few days ago beat Bayern München; that speaks volumes of our achievement. We have to thank all of the players and the staff at the club.”

Robin Dutt

“Though we played Barcelona, this loss really hurts. Let’s face it, they were simply too strong. Criticism will come and we have to live with it. We weren’t at our best and if you play Barcelona, you need to have a perfect day. We did not give up in the second half, but they were simply too strong. When it was 2-0, they realised they could relax and have fun with the ball and that’s what they did. We tried to keep up, but they punished us. That can happen against an opponent like Barcelona.”

“Of course, the players always try to stay with their opposing player, but today that was impossible. We were late too often. After this loss we should not bring the whole of German football in to question. Barcelona can play like that against almost every team from every league. It will be easy to forget about this game; we are all professionals. The Champions League is one thing, the Bundesliga another.”

“Barcelona has an extraordinary quality and the question is, ‘how can you achieve such a level?’ We’ll have to find out. I congratulated Guardiola and told him that I’m sure his team will be in the Champions League final this year again. They use space so well and their build-up play is superb.”

“If you are a fan, you must be deeply impressed by Messi today, but me as a coach, I did hope for one of his bad days. There are scarcely words to describe the way Messi plays. Barcelona are the best team in the world even without Messi but with him they are almost in another galaxy.”

“They have it all, technique, tactics and team spirit. A perfect performance.”

“We didn’t need this evening to prove that Barcelona are the best team that I have ever seen play. I think that all the other teams on the continent have a great deal of work to do before they can reach the same level.”

Source: The Guardian; Image credit: JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images