"In a mini one-on-one match, I told myself: 'I'm going to see if I can stop him'. It was humiliating. Pep told me: 'Carles, don't injure him", Carles Puyol told La Vanguardia.

In the interview, Puyol went on to say that the season just ended will be known as 'Messi's league title': "He's head and shoulders above anyone I've seen. He's extraterrestrial. He's better now than he was four years ago because he reads the game better. He's unstoppable".

Puyol recalled an episode involving Messi during Pep Guardiola's spell in charge: "In a mini one-on-one match, I told myself: 'I'm going to see if I can stop him'. It was humiliating. Pep told me: 'Carles, don't injure him'. 'If you don't want anything to happen, stop the session', I told him. I tried everything but he always got past me at his own pace".

The former Barça captain also spoke about how difficult his new life away from football has been: "The transition isn't easy at all. If only I could play a bit of sport it would be more bearable, but the change has been so extreme and really hard".

Puyol has regrets about not going under the knife earlier: "I might have been able to continue playing. I wanted to play until I was 40. I thought about playing on for free, but I couldn't. Now I feel liberated".

The Catalan also spoke about his decision to hang up his boots: "I made the decision. I thought about what the team needed and when I realised I could no longer perform at the same level, I decided to have the operation because my knee was really feeling it".