Diego Maradona has criticised FIFA for awarding Argentina’s Lionel Messi the Golden Ball award for the World Cup’s best player, reports The Guardian. Messi was presented with the award after his country’s 1-0 defeat to Germany in the final in Rio, beating such stellar performers as Arjen Robben, James Rodriguez and Thomas Muller. Despite scoring four goals in seven matches, the Barcelona star was not at his best during the knockout stages and Maradona dismissed the decision as a ‘marketing plan’.
‘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.’
-With New Age input
