Messi winning Golden Ball nothing but a marketing gimmick: Maradona

Was Lionel Messi the best player at the World Cup? It is a question that has been asked by many but now Diego Maradona has decided to weigh in on the debate.

A sullen-faced Messi was presented with the award after Argentina lost to Germany 1-0 in the final. Messi has a pretty good World Cup – but his magic was restricted to moments while others like Arjen Robben, James Rodríguez and Thomas Müller seemed to have a greater impact.

“Messi? I would give him heaven if possible,” the 1986 World Cup winner said on his television show on Telesur. “But it’s not right when someone wins something that he shouldn’t have won just because of some marketing plan.”

Maradona has been pretty gung-ho on this show. Last month, he had responded to being called a “bad luck charm” by Argentina’s football association president by showing him the middle finger on live TV.

Maradona was responding to reports that Julio Grondona called him a jinx after Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Iran on Saturday.

Maradona watched the game at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte but left shortly before Lionel Messi scored the winner in stoppage time. Argentine media reported that Grondona said “the bad luck charm left and we won.” Maradona, who has a spiky relationship with Grondona, later gave analysis to Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur.

He said “I want to tell Grondona, who said that, that what I have, I earned working. What he has was bought by FIFA.”

He later looked at the camera in silence and stuck up his middle finger.

-- With inputs from AP