Jose Mourinho has said Barcelona forward Lionel Messi shouldn’t be held accountable for Argentina’s defeat in the World Cup final.
The Chelsea manager told Yahoo Sport that the Argentina captain has already achieved enough to be considered one of the game’s greatest ever players.
“It's easy to respect him when he has won but when he has lost, it's not so easy,” Mourinho said.
“He is still a historical player. He does not need to be world champion to be a historical player, especially in this last decade.”
The former Madrid Coach added that Messi could have put Argentina in front in the first half but the tactical change made by Argentina boss Alejandro Sabella meant Messi had to run harder after the break.
“[Messi at fault?] Not at all. I think in the first half he had fantastic options,” Mourinho said.
“When Sabella brought [Sergio] Aguero on for [Ezequiel] Lavezzi, Argentina changed from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 and they lost a lot of balance. Messi had to run much more after Lavezzi went off.”
