Tuesday, 15th July, 2014



FIFA president Sepp Blatter has revealed that he was "surprised" with Argentina's Lionel Messi winning the World Cup Golden Ball award.

The Barcelona star was named as the tournament's best player despite his side going down 1-0 to Germany in the final at the Maracana Stadium on Sunday.



Messi scored four goals in three group stages matches, but failed to find the back of the net in the knockout rounds of the World Cup.

"I was a little bit surprised when I saw Messi coming up to collect the best player of the competition", Blatter was quoted as saying by the BBC.
 


However, Blatter was quick to add that Messi’s displays in the group stage strengthened the 27-year-old’s claim to win the award.  

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"If you compare the beginning of the tournament and why the Argentina team got into the final, they were decisive", he added.

Messi’s only notable contribution during the knockout phase was the assist for Angel di Maria’s goal in Argentina’s 1-0 extra-time win over Switzerland in the Round of 16.

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