Cristina Ronaldo didn't have a particularly good World Cup, but he was coming into the tournament carrying an injury. And he was also carrying a very, very mediocre Portugal team.

Messi has a pretty strong team in Argentina (and it was nowhere near the one-man team bias pundits tried to claim). Messi knocked in a few goals against some minnows, but as Gary Linekar said before the final, he's generally been a disaapointment. He didn't turn up in the match against Holland, and he didn't turn up against Germany either.

I don't think either Ronaldo or Messi are the greatest ever. They are ijn a battle to be the best of their generation, but I think neither are in the same tier as Pele, Maradonna or even Zidane

ronaldo was a flop, messi has played a final and won the golden ball.

Messi did fine imho. Scored goals and came very close to winning it tonight.

Messi did fine, other than masca he was the best player in the team. I don't believe they was a strong team ether, some good individuals at club but thats about it really

He did good he took them to final on his own showed some amazing skill and moves it just didn't happen in the final for him to get his goal.

I do agree with the OP in they are the best for their generation, Zidane Pele and Maradona miles ahead.

He's no Maradona I'm afraid.

Golden Ball is a joke. Nobody is going to take that seriously, and every football fan with half a brain will know FIFA only gave it to him to keep the Messi hype train going.

Messi wasn't even the best player for Argentina, let alone the tournament. To get it over Muller, Neuer, Robben or Rodrriguez is ridiculous

Did you actually watch the last game? It ended up a penalty shoot out. He was poor, as he was tonight.

If Messi wasn't in the squad they would be out in the groups hope that makes it easier for you.

Messi was one of the better players for me. Not the best but if I'd have him in my team of the tournament. I don't think the Argies would have got as far without him. All about opinions though

Yea, because they've got some really rubbish players like Zabeleta, higuain, Di Maria, Aguero.

The only player to cover less ground all tournament than Messi was Fred.

I'd go as far as to say in a team game, this isn't great, if he's not pulling any magic out the hat.

I'm not buying all this one man team bollocks. He's a forward. His job is is to score goals. Getting goals against the likes of Iran and Switzerland does not deserve some sort of extra credit. It's standard stuff. When the real challenges came, Messi shrunk.

Argentina has Di Maria, Mascherano, Zabeleta, Higuian and Romero. Argentina had an excellent squad. You've been falling for the shite the BBC pundits were trying to sell you.

Messi did okay, but to claim any more than that is just nonsensical fan type stuff.

He was alright, nothing more, nothing less, certainly nothing too special.

Messi scored 4 goals, assisted a few times & was Argentina's most creative player

Most players would dream to have the above said about them during a World Cup, yet for Messi it's deemed a below par effort.......

......that itself shows how high his standards are, if the above is deemed as 'poor' or below par

He's not been his best, yet he still gets his team to the final

I thought Messi did okay to fairly well. He wasn't at his absolute best but he wasn't terrible either. He'd just miss out on team of the tournament for me and would be on the bench. For anyone else that would be an excellent tournament but because it's Messi we expect the sublime every time he touches the ball.

If you want to look to a high profile player who had a terrible tournament then look no further than Casillas.

And never will be.

To be fair to Messi, Maradona's boots are almost impossible to fill. I can't see any player repeating what Maradona did in '86.

His group goal games against minnow sides were fine. Nothing exceptional. but fine.

He scored no goals in the knockout stage, where the most difficult opposition came. he was a flattrack bully in effect.

Argentina had a lot of excellent players doing hard work to get them to the final, but you'd never actually know it to listen to the BBC or ITV pundits. The last two Argentina matches, even when Messi barely touched the ball, all they can talk about is him.

The fact that people are trying to claim he single handedly dragged a world class squad to the final shows how overrated his contribution has been. He played his part, but the team itself is incredibly solid. Argentina have an incredible defense and a great midfield. They are a great team. One of the best in the world. People who are making out as if they are some sort of Vauxhall confrence Pub squad have no idea.

I think that sums it up for me. He clearly didn't have a bad tournament, he just didn't light it up as people expected or hoped

he assisted in the knockout game, the only game that was scored by someone else was higuin against belgium, argentina would not of been there without him, all his goals came from outside the box, has 4 mom in the tournament. He carried them, macherano only came alive in the semi finals, before that I did not even hear his name.

That's only because Messi was so awful in the semi-finals, that not even the most creative pundits could find a way to give him credit for "carrying" the team, even if they dearly wanted to. So they had to finally acknowledge another Argentina player than Messi was doing a job for the team.

The bias is insane. Mascherano was just as effective in previous games, but as long as Messi got a couple of touches or a goal, no matter how average his overall performance, his contribution gets overhyped ahead of better performers on his own team.

if the pundits wanted to, they could have been hyping Mascherano every time he touched the ball (like they do with Pirlo for Italy), but that wasn't on the agenda. Pumping up Messi every chance they could was, till it was no longer feasible.

People here are quite intelligent. I'm surprised you can't see through this stuff

Big fan of Messi but noticed he is taking part in less and less of the action and spends most of it simply strolling around. Quite telling that he was very much the outsider when it came to the teamtalk at the start of extra time and he very much distanced himself from any part of it ...

Fitness problems or some sort of mental fatigue?? Certainly not the player of 18 months ago either way and this will be an interesting season ahead for him.

Ronaldo got knocked out the group stage and only scored 1 goal despite taking 22 shots on goal, the most of any player during the group stages.

Messi took his team to a world cup final, something which isnt as easy as you and others seem to be suggesting. Also got four motm awards consecutively which is a record, four goals, 1 assist, created the most number of chances of any player.

He also came off a two-three month injury and hasnt looked the same since even for barcelona where he ran less in one match than even the barcelona goalkeeper.

He doesnt have to prove anything. He is still one of the greatest players of all time, and the greatest ive ever seen live.

Zidane came VERY close in 2006. He was spectacular and if not for his headbutt (which still makes me go and at the same time) he would have won it for France.

Messi was not properly as Ronaldo was struggling with fitness. I remember watching Messi in the 'title decider' against Atletico Madrid and it appeared that he was unable to move with fluency. It was as if he was fatigued. I watched Ronaldo play against Ghana and he was definitely injured. Towards the end of the match, when he was off the ball he had to kneel down onto the side of his bad knee. It was sad to watch, however it was great to see him play live.