Many football fans believed that if Lionel Messi was to lead Argentina to World Cup glory this summer, there could be no argument that he is the greatest player of all time.

However, the chances of that happening now look incredibly slim.

Messi’s missed penalty resulted in Argentina drawing their opening match against Iceland before they were thrashed 3-0 by Croatia in their second game.

During their damaging loss, Messi was anonymous and barely touched the ball.

His frustrations and stress could be seen throughout the 90 minutes as he saw his dream slipping away slowly.

You couldn’t help but feel sorry for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

And even Croatian players appeared to feel a bit sorry after the match.

Real Madrid midfielder - and Man of the Match on the night - Luka Modric has a few words for his rival.

“Messi is an incredible player,” Modric said.

“But he can’t do everything alone. In football you need help and it can’t be done alone.”

He’s spot on.

Despite Messi’s best efforts, he simply doesn’t have the team around him in order to succeed.

It seems strange saying that while Argentina boast the likes of Angel di Maria, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain but Messi simply didn’t get enough of the ball to produce his magic.

And Modric wasn’t the only Croatian player to speak about Messi’s struggles for Argentina.

Ivan Perisic also felt that Messi needed more help from his teammates.

“Messi is the best, just like Cristiano Ronaldo, but you can only achieve something if you play as a team. Argentina need to change something if they are to go forward,” he said.

Argentina must now beat Nigeria in their final match on Tuesday and hope that other results go their way.