Argentina coach Diego Maradona today praised his former club Barcelona, describing them as the best side he has seen lately.

Maradona, who played for Barcelona during his illustrious career, is in Europe preparing for a friendly match against France tomorrow evening, and he praised the club and the coach.

"Barcelona are the best team I have seen in recent times. There are squads behind like Manchester United, Inter, Liverpool or even Real Madrid, and they are good, but Barcelona have shown the are a little bit better than all of them," he told Marca.

"With the little experience that he [Pep Guardiola] has, the work that he has done with that group seems exceptional."

Unsurprisingly, Maradona also had praise for the Argentinian who is also Barcelona's brightest star, Lionel Messi - who has drawn plenty of comparisons to the coach in his short career.

Maradona revealed that even though he could not train properly yesterday due to a slight knock, Messi was "lively, happy and wanting to play" and will do so on the right side.

"He knows what I did, and he wants to surpass that. If he achieves everything with Argentina that he is aiming [for] at Barcelona, we are talking about one of the best players in the world," he mused.

"I was speaking with him last night and he told me that it is an important game because it is his first under me, and that he will give his all so Argentina show the power they have.

"It would be stupid to play him elsewhere, if Messi plays as he does with Barcelona, it is pointless changing position."