The Swiss footballing chief said it was "incorrect"
to give the Argentina forward the award in retrospect, despite his
goalscoring heroics in World Cup 2014's group stage
Fifa president Sepp Blatter does not believe Lionel Messi deserved the World Cup 2014 Golden Ball award for being the best player at the tournament.
Quite a few eyebrows were raised when the Argentina forward was
handed the award after his team were beaten in the final, despite having
had relatively little impact compared to team-mates and opponents after
the group stage - in which he had unquestionably starred.
Blatter, who has said in the past that he thought Germany goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer had deserved the accolade, slammed the award process only a
few hours after Messi was named among the 23-man shortlist for the Fifa Ballon d'Or.
"I think the decision to give Messi the Golden Ball was incorrect,"
he told reporters at a press event in Moscow, Russia, as he inspected
preparations for the next World Cup.
"I was surprised when I received the committee’s decision. They told
me they had only looked at 10 of the players who took part in the
final."
Messi has won the Ballon d'Or four times in his career, although in
the past 18 months his stock has fallen somewhat, despite still being
considered one of the greatest players in the world.
A silverware-free season in 2013-14 with Barcelona - aside from the
Supercopa, which came more than 12 months ago - and a failure to skipper
Argentina to World Cup glory makes a Ballon d'Or 2014 victory unlikely,
with Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben and Neuer among the more favoured
candidates.
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