CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL:FOR A fleeting moment after he arrived for a press conference, long delayed by the scale of the celebrations in the Barcelona camp, Pep Guardiola seemed as though the reality of winning the Champions League at Wembley on Saturday night hadn't sunk in yet.

The 40-year-old looked set to turn in a repeat performance of Friday’s pre-match event, when he had been all poker-faced but polite, insisting that “greatness” was an almost impossible thing to measure in a football team and endorsing for the record Alex Ferguson’s stated view that nothing about this European title decider was a foregone conclusion.

Before he had even spoken, though, the facade was shattered and Guardiola suddenly looked to be bursting again with the joy that had engulfed the Barca players, officials and supporters at the end of Saturday’s unforgettable victory.

Sergio Busquets called it the “almost perfect game” but the coach, with his characteristic blend of dignified humility was rather less emphatic, and simply congratulated the players on their performance and just about everyone else at the club for their various parts in this, their fourth European success before thanking the fans for the part they had played in travelling to London in such numbers.

Almost immediately, the questioning turned to his future. And he hinted in his answer that the pressure to maintain a high standard at such a great club was perhaps taking its toll on him. “I’m very proud to be the coach of these guys,” said Guardiola in his near perfect English.

“But it’s not an easy job to do. My intention now is to stay for another year and then we will see what happens. You have to keep the passion and if the passion goes then I will go away, rest a little bit and try to get the passion back. I feel privileged to have these players. Everyone has worked towards this. We are very happy.”

Guardiola also believes it is not realistic to try to emulate the 25 years Ferguson has been at the helm at Old Trafford in Spain. “In England it can be 25 years; in Spain it is impossible,” he said. “They are different ways. For him to be manager for 25 years and create new teams and new teams he has my admiration. I know it is difficult.

“If you play this football (like Barcelona) you need these players. At another club maybe I would have a problem to find these kind of players.”

Guardiola singled out the mercurial Messi for special praise. He said: “Lionel is the best player I’ve ever seen, probably the best ever. He made the difference. Messi is unique, a one-off. I just hope he doesn’t get fed up. When he doesn’t play well it is because something is wrong with his environment. Let’s hope he can continue playing well.”

Guardiola was unsure, however, whether Barcelona were the best club team of all time. “I don’t know,” he said. “It is impossible to say. I didn’t see the Real Madrid of Di Stefano and the Ajax of Cruyff. We try to play as well as possible. I hope in the next 10 or 15 years the people will remember them and have enjoyed them.

Barcelona’s major rivals across Europe would love to lure him away from the Nou Camp but Guardiola, one suspects, will be very choosy about where he goes and on what terms if and when he decides to embark on another challenge.

Roman Abramovich, it was reported in a number of British newspapers yesterday, has taken a shine to the former midfielder and would love to have him at Stamford Bridge as Carlo Ancelotti’s successor.

It is one thing, however, for Guardiola to say, as he did on Friday, that he is no more than “one cog in the wheel” that is the club and another altogether for him to contemplate going to work for a man who would believe that to be the case at its most basic level.

In any case, what Barcelona have achieved in recent years is the product of a grand vision realised thanks to years of investment in terms of both effort and finances by people who, for the most part, appear to have an enormous emotional bond to the work they are doing. An attempt to recreate Barcelona’s success on the basis of just monetary outlay would surely fall way short of success unless a coach was given the adequate time; something the game’s billionaire bankrollers rarely have the patience for.

Just one of the remarkable things about his success so far is it has been achieved with such a young group of players. Lionel Messi, for a start, is just 23, Busquets 22 and Gerard Pique 24.

Overall, the average age of the Barcelona team on Saturday was around two years younger than that of Manchester United and there is every chance many of their key players will improve considerably over the coming years.

Messi certainly looks to have a lot more to come both on the club and international front. And given the vastly improved protection he is afforded by referees compared to the likes of Pele and Maradona, there seems every chance he could be performing at this sort of level for a decade or more to come.

Already the wider team is acknowledged to be on a par with the likes of the Real Madrid side of the late ’50s, Ajax in the early ’70s and Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan team of the mid-’90s.

And a growing number of observers are finding it hard to avoid the conclusion that this Barcelona side is better than any of its predecessors.

All of the others reigned for only a few short years and keeping Barca on top will be a new challenge for Guardiola or whoever succeeds him in the event that he does decide to walk away in a year’s time.

By then, Xavi, the heartbeat of the side will be 32 and could perhaps find his influence is just starting to wane, while Carles Puyol will be 34 and less likely to be inspiring the team from the heart of the defence.

Messi and some of the team’s other younger players might well have a fourth Champions League winners’ medal and could be tempted to view the managerial upheaval as an opportunity to seek lucrative new challenges in Italy or England.

Right now, though, they are together and brilliant enough to unite supporters of every other club in admiration.