Lionel Messi gained some small consolation for Argentina’s defeat to Germany in the World Cup final when he was named the Golden Ball player of the tournament.

The Barcelona forward played a key role in Argentina's march to the final at the Maracana stadium in Rio, picking up four man-of-the-match awards.

He scored four goals at the tournament, but failed to pick up the one honour eluding him after Germany substitute Mario Gotze's 113th-minute goal dashed the South Americans' dream of a third title.

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer kept a clean sheet in the final and he was rewarded for a number of fine performances in Brazil with the Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of victory Neuer said: "It is unbelievable. The team has done superbly, not only the players, but also the team behind the team. At some point we will stop celebrating, but we will always stand up again with a smile."

Colombia's young striker James Rodriguez claimed the Golden Boot for the World Cup's top scorer honours with six goals.

Despite his country going out at the quarter-final stage, the 23-year-old's haul was never matched.

Germany's Thomas Muller ended up in second place with five goals, while Messi, injured Brazil star Neymar and Netherlands striker Robin van Persie shared third spot on four.

The Young Player award went to France midfielder Paul Pogba.

Messi is my favorite player in the world, and I love him to death; he was why I was rooting for Argentina to take it all, but I don't think he deserved that award whatsover.

I personally think James Rodrigues should get the golden ball. Im sick and tired of messi!

Algeria deserve alll <3

Originally Posted by Invia

Algeria deserve alll <3

yes they do they played well
and in my opinion messi is a great player but really doesn't deserve the golden ball
anyway congrats to germany

Messi has now became an overrated player. Sure he plays really good when he has a good team supporting him. But when he is "alone" he does not do so much.
With Argentina he has been lucky to arrive to the final. This is my opinion.

@Lawyer - Did you watch the same World Cup as the rest of the world? Sure,Messi played well below his lusual evel in the final 3 games...but he single-handedly took Argentina to the knockout rounds. Without him,Argentina wouldn't even have made it past the group stage. You say when he alone he can't do anything...well,that is true for any player in the world. Football is a team game and no player can win a Cup single-handedly. Pele,Maradona,Ronaldo,Cruyff...they all played in teams having other great players. You think anyone of them could have won the Cup alone? If Messi had the support of at least 2 players up front,Argentina would have won the Cup. They seriously missed Di Maria in the final...