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LONDON. — Pep Guardiola’s secret to getting the best out of Lionel Messi is to stop the Barcelona star from having sex before midnight, according to Samir Nasri.Nasri only spent pre-season with Guardiola at Manchester City before he was sent out on loan to Sevilla for the remainder of the campaign.

But the midfielder has revealed how City’s new manager quickly imposed a strict sex ban on his players in an effort to aid their recuperation.

“For him, his players’ sexual activity must take place before midnight in order to get a good night sleep — even if they are free tomorrow,” Nasri told L’Equipe du Soir.

“He told us this is how he managed to get the best out of Messi and (Robert) Lewandowski, and for them to avoid the maximum number of muscular injuries.”

Nasri left City on loan in August, to join the La Liga side in his quest for regular football, despite having worked his way into Guardiola’s plans after an inauspicious start to life under the Catalan. The 29-year-old had been deemed overweight by Guardiola earlier in the summer and forced to train alone, away from City’s first-team squad.

However, after shedding the excess weight, Nasri was welcomed back into the fold by Guardiola and looked set to play a part in City’s season, when coming off the bench as a substitute in the 3-1 win over West Ham on August 28.

But the ex-Arsenal playmaker believed that he wouldn’t be first choice under Guardiola this term, and elected to push ahead with a loan move to Seville, where he has starred for Jorge Sampaoli’s side.

Now speaking on French TV show L’Equipe du soir on Monday evening, the Frenchman — who says he will never return to the France squad — has opened up on Guardiola, how he forced him to make a few changes in pre-season and told him that with his talent, he should be playing for Barcelona.

“Guardiola told me that I was a mess, he told me several times and even kicked me in the butt, literally,” revealed the City loanee. — Metro.