Who’s surprised by this statement? Argentine legend Diego Maradona, while speaking during a TV programme affirmed that Lionel Messi didn’t deserve the Golden Ball award at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He said the prize should have gone to Colombia’s James Rodriguez.

“I would give heaven and earth to Leo, but when marketing people want him to win something he didn’t deserve to win, it is unfair. I could see that he didn’t want to go up and collect it. We raised our flag high, there’s no doubt about that. Germany won due to a misunderstanding in the defence but at no point were they better than us. They showed us a lot of respect, and our lads earned that out on the pitch.”