Valencia hero Roberto Ayala feels Pep Guardiola's Barcelona "damaged" football.

Ayala feels they hurt the attitude towards defending.

"Guardiola's Barcelona is the best team I've seen in my life, but in a way it has damaged football," Ayala said of the side that Guardiola, now coach at Manchester City, embossed with a distinct and much-lauded passing style.

“Now many defenders want to play the ball out as if they were in Barcelona, and they're not able to. They're not centre-midfielders.

“First you have to defend, to give security. You can't lose sight of the fact that they are defenders first."