Former Barcelona star David Villa claimed that Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time.

Barcelona currently have an nine-point lead in La Liga over Atletico Madrid and are well primed to qualify for the Champions League semi-finals. They face Manchester United on Tuesday in the quarter-final second leg, holding a slender 1-0 win advantage.

Messi has been central to Barcelona’s success, scoring 43 goals across all competitions and proving the side’s talisman time and again.

He will turn 32 in June but Villa, who played alongside the Argentine forward at Barcelona from 2010 to 2013, does not see him slowing down.

“Leo Messi is the greatest player of all time,” Villa said in an interview with Reuters.

“Barcelona owes its success to his evolution: a direct style of passing play based on possession.”

Villa did admit that he did not have the chance to watch the likes of Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, but having watched Messi in every game, the Spaniard believes the five-time Ballon d’Or winner is the best.

“Obviously with the likes of Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, I didn’t have the chance to watch them like I used to see Messi every day, in every game,” he added.

“But, in my opinion, Messi’s the best.”