Pep Guardiola vehemently denied ever saying Tito Vilanova would find it difficult to manage both Neymar and Lionel Messi in the same team, while expressing his disappointment at the way he has been criticized by Barcelona president Sandro Rosell.

Guardiola enjoyed a tremendously successful spell at Barcelona from 2008-12, before deciding to take a one-year sabbatical to recharge his batteries.

The Spaniard was one of the most-wanted managers in Europe and eventually decided to join Bayern Munich for the new season, with the German giants announcing the decision in January.

While speaking to reporters in Lake Garda, Italy where Bayern are holding their preseason training camp, Guardiola denied having ever brought current Barca manager Vilanova into the conversation during a chat with Neymar's father.

Earlier a report in Brazil claimed that Santos vice-president Odlio Rodriguez said Guardiola had told Neymar's father that Vilanova would struggle to incorporate both the superstars in the same team.

"I don't know the vice-president of Santos but probably his intermediaries have got this very wrong, because the information they have given him is false," he said.

"I would never make any comments like those he said I made.

"In that meeting and in the two conversations we had before that I must have told him 20 times how well he would do at Barcelona, and in none of those three meetings did the name Tito Vilanova come up.

"It's not necessary for me to say if he (Vilanova) is a capable coach or not, he was my assistant for five years and what he did last year speaks for itself, because he led the club to their greatest season in their history.

"What's more, the best players can always play together and those two (Neymar and Messi) are capable of playing together for many years."

Guardiola has been criticized at times by Rosell after the former's departure, with the manager brought into the club by former president Joan Laporta.

The current Bayern coach said he was disappointed with the way some of the comments have come out from Rosell and the board, particularly when they said he had not made enough of an effort to meet Vilanova in New York when he was undergoing treatment for cancer.

"I told them (the president and his directors) I was going 6,000 km away and asked them to leave me in peace, but they haven't kept their word.

"I did my time (at Barcelona) then decided to leave.

"I want them to get on with the job and I wish them all the success in the world, because their success will also be mine, I don't need to say what I feel for this club.

"Too many things have happened that have crossed the line. I will never forget that they used Tito's illness to cause me damage, because it's a lie that I never saw him in New York.

"I saw him once, and the reason I didn't see him more often was because it wasn't possible, and that wasn't my fault.

"To say that I don't wish the best of someone who was my colleague for so many years is very bad taste, and I didn't expect that."

Bayern are scheduled to play Barcelona in a preseason friendly at the Allianz Arena in July 24, and Guardiola said while he would not snub Rosell, he would not exactly be able to forget all the things that have been said.

"I did the best I could at Barcelona," he added. "The staff and coaches have nothing to worry about. I left and have nothing to complain about, all I asked was to be left in peace. I went off to learn English and I ended up trying to learn German.

"That was all I focused on. I just ask the board to go their own way and leave me alone and stop using me and my friends to hurt me."