Gary Lineker has defended Lionel Messi for not winning the World Cup

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By Scott Wilson

Published Feb 7, 2018

Messi gets criticised for it - and Lineker's come to his defence

Gary Lineker has never failed to hide his opinion on Lionel Messi.

The Match of the Day host is fully of the belief that Messi is the greatest footballer in the history of the sport, an opinion he has shared countless times in interviews and on social media.

After Messi scored in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid last December - and in doing so broke the record for most goals and assists in El Clasico - Lineker wrote on Twitter: “Best in history.”

He also came to the Argentinian’s defence when a couple of journalists argued that Cristiano Ronaldo deserved to win the 2017 Ballon d’Or award.

“Is it for the best player or the best player of the most successful team? I love Ronaldo but Messi is a better footballer,” Lineker wrote when one journalist pointed out that Ronaldo won La Liga and the Champions League last year.

He added: “Fact is Messi is the best passer, dribbler, goal scorer and player in the game.”

Nobody will ever be able to sway Lineker’s opinion on the Messi versus Ronaldo debate.

Lineker responds to Messi's World Cup criticism

One fact that many of Messi’s critics like to point out is the fact that he’s never won the World Cup.

The 30-year-old appeared in the 2014 World Cup but of course, Argentina lost 1-0 to Germany at the Maracana.

Lineker has the perfect response to those who like to put players such as Diego Maradona above Messi for the simple reason that Maradona lifted the World Cup; Messi is a four-time winner of football’s biggest club tournament, the Champions League.

And only four players - Paco Gento, Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini and Alfredo di Stefano - can claim to have won it more times.

“I never thought that I'd see someone better than [Diego] Maradona,” Lineker told Mundo Deportivo.