"I would give heaven and earth to Leo," said Maradona. The Argentine legend disagrees with his compatriot Lionel Messi bagging the Golden Ball Award as the best player in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. "But when marketing people want him to win something he didn't [deserve to] win, it is unfair." Diego Maradona added.

Messi scored four goals in the group stages but failed to add to that tally in the knockout rounds. He led his team to victory in the match against Switzerland but was found struggling in the semi-final match against Netherlands.

"I could see that he didn't want to go up and collect it [the award]," said Maradona, who was named the best player when Argentina won the World Cup in 1986. Messi did not show an exceptional performance during the final match against Germany. On his World Cup television programme, Maradona said that it was James Rodiriguez-the Colombian playmaker-who was the star player and the one who deserves the Golden Ball Award above all.

Nevertheless, the former Argentina player and coach say that the country's national team La Albiceleste should be proud of their overall performance against Germany.

"We raised our flag high, there's no doubt about that," he added. "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."