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L. Messi shined in the summer's global competition, but in the semi-finals and final matches, the Argentine could not impose his game. In extra time, the Germans defeated Argentina by a narrow margin and became world champions.
"I wanted to play better in the semi-finals and final," said the 27-year-old footballer. "If I had scored a goal in the final, then people would probably have said that the World Cup was great for me."
"Criticism hurts me. I think I had a great World Cup, but it seems that the only player who played poorly was me.
"Before Germany, we had many chances to win. It was even more painful... It was very difficult," concluded the World Cup runner-up.