Carlos Queiroz, who coached South Africa between 2000 and 2002, has been in charge of Iran since 2011.
The former assistant of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United has overseen another successful World Cup qualification campaign with Iran, ensuring they qualified for consecutive World Cups for the first time, and has now recalled facing Messi at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
"I've always said that Messi is an extraordinary player. He's out of this world,” he told FIFA in an exclusive interview.
"If he were human, he wouldn't have had that magical moment in that match (Argentina beat Iran in the group stage with a late goal from Messi).
"I don’t usually like losing, but I didn't come away from that defeat with a negative feeling. It's when something magical like that happens that you know that football is alive and kicking, and that's why it's one of the best sports in the world to watch.
"And it's even more of a special moment when it comes from a player who shouldn't be allowed to play by FIFA until it's proven that he's actually human!"
Queiroz and Iran will face Portugal, Spain and Morocco in one of the trickiest groups at the 2018 World Cup.
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