Barcelona playmaker Andres Iniesta has come out supporting the work Pep Guardiola has done at Barcelona over the past few years, and spoken of his extreme respect for the achievements of Guardiola during these years.

After taking over in 2008, Guardiola has transformed the Barcelona team into one of the world's greatest. There have even been plenty of discussions about whether the current Barcelona team is the greatest in the history of football. Even though the team has to go a long way into proving such claims, Iniesta already regards Guardiola as one of the most important parts of Barcelona's history.

Guardiola's contract with Barcelona runs out at the end of next season, and there has been speculation that he will choose to run down his contract rather than renew it, as he has grown tired of the Barca management job. It is also rumoured that he has lost the spark that needs to be present in order to keep on winning. He has been linked with moves to Inter Milan and Chelsea in the past.

However, Iniesta believes that Guardiola's achievements should not only be respected by him, but also by his club as well. Iniesta said "We will always say the same thing and that is that we are very happy with Pep Guardiola. He is fundamental for Barcelona's project."

So far, Pep Guardiola has won two Champions League titles and a hat-trick of La Liga titles with Barcelona.

There have been recent reports of a bust up between Lionel Messi and David Villa, which sparked rumours that Guardiola has lost the dressing room, but a slight improvement in form has allayed such fears.