Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said Lionel Messi was the best player ever after the blaugrana talisman's latest hat trick in Tuesday's 4-0 Champions League win over APOEL sent him clear as the competition's highest ever goalscorer.
Messi went into the game level at the top of the all-time competition scoring charts with Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez, but three excellent right-footed finishes saw him move to 74 goals in 92 games in the competition, well clear of current Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who is on 70 strikes in the competition.
The Asturian coach told his post-match news conference that nobody at Barca was getting tired of seeing Messi -- who just last Saturday became La Liga's leading all-time goalscorer -- break record after record.
"I am not good with the comparisons, [but] we do not get tired of seeing Messi," said Luis Enrique. "I say that he is the best player of all time. We have the good fortune to see him, and enjoy him, every day."
The Argentina captain played most of the game coming inside from a right-wing position, with Luis Suarez nominally the centre-forward but with the pair regularly switching positions, a tactical set-up the blaugrana boss said was about ensuring Messi was regularly involved in the play.
"They are able to play in various positions, depending on what is needed," he said. "It is about having [Messi] enter in the play as much as possible."
Messi's exploits took some of the focus away from ex-Liverpool player Suarez, who finally scored his first goal for Barca four months and six games after joining the Catalan club, with an excellent solo effort which he made and finished himself.
Luis Enrique said the Uruguay international was always going to score, and anyway his all-round play was also very useful for the side.
"We knew the moment was going to come," he said. "He does not just bring goals, but also many other things which benefits the team."
Barca's performance in swatting aside the Cypriot champions, who had conceded just once in their four previous group games in the competition this term, had been outstanding their coach said.
"Today the team played very well, a very complete game," said Enrique. "Playing like this, making so many chances, it is very difficult for anyone to lay a hand on us. For me today the first half was spectacular, they did not even get close to our penalty area.
"This is not about them being an easy opponent. APOEL showed at the Camp Nou, in the games against [Paris Saint-Germain], that they are a difficult team to score against. It is not about pushing a button, it is a process from the first training session and through the games we have played."
Paris Saint Germain's 3-1 win over Ajax in the night's other group game means that Barca must now beat the Ligue 1 champions in their final fixture to top the standings and be seeded in the last 16.
Luis Enrique said he was happy with that challenge, although he would in the meantime be focusing on Barca's next La Liga game, while ignoring external critics whose reactions tended to swing quickly from positive to negative and back again.
"It will be marvellous to play for first place at home, in front of our own fans," he said. "We will focus now on Valencia, as here things change from wave to wave in half an hour. You go in 90 minutes from being a team which gives a good impression, to a team which generates doubts. I am talking about outside the dressing room."
Neither midfielder Rafinha nor right-back Dani Alves will be able to play against PSG because of suspension, after both players accumulated yellow cards which could have been avoided during the easy victory.
"We had spoken about being careful, these are the risks that you take when going onto the pitch," Luis Enrique said. "It is a pity that [Alves booking for handball] happened in such a ridiculous way. I thought there was a foul against him and he touched the ball with his hand."