Messi, who lost the last World Cup final to Germany as captain of Argentina, missed a penalty in his side's 1-1 draw with Iceland and is under pressure to propel his side to victory over Group D leaders Croatia on Thursday.
Spain captain Sergio Ramos has responded to a putdown from Argentina great Diego Maradona by making an unlikely declaration of admiration for Lionel Messi, his usual enemy as the talisman of Real Madrid's arch-rivals Barcelona.
Maradona, his country's 1986 World Cup-winning captain, remarked this week that "Ramos is no superstar, the real superstar defender is Diego Godin" when comparing Spain's serial-winner Ramos with the Uruguay captain.
Ramos was asked what he made of Maradona's comments after Spain's 1-0 World Cup Group B win over Iran, and chose to praise on Messi, who has led Barcelona to numerous wins over Real Madrid and had plenty of full-blooded clashes with the Spaniard.
"I respect Maradona because he is an all-time great, I think he was a star, but I'll also tell you that Argentine football knows Maradona is light years behind their number one player, which is Messi," Ramos said.
Messi, who lost the last World Cup final to Germany as captain of Argentina, missed a penalty in his side's 1-1 draw with Iceland and is under pressure to propel his side to victory over Group D leaders Croatia on Thursday.
Messi under pressure
Meanwhile, Messi is under increased pressure to redeem himself when Argentina face Croatia in Thursday's pivotal match after eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo scored his fourth goal of the World Cup to send Morocco packing.
France will be looking for a second World Cup Group C win against Peru Thursday while Australia need to bounce back from their heart-breaking defeat to Les Bleus against Denmark.
Messi's teammates have rallied around their superstar captain after his spot-kick was saved in the 1-1 draw against minnows Iceland on Saturday. Messi is bearing the weight of expectations as Argentina seek a first World Cup trophy since 1986, desperate to crown his glittering career with a major international tournament success.
However so far in Russia, Messi has been overshadowed by Ronaldo, who took his tournament goal tally to four on Tuesday with the winner in Portugal's 1-0 defeat of Morocco, which condemned the Africans to an early exit. A defeat against the Luka Modric-led Croatians in Nizhny Novgorod could see Argentina, unthinkably, flirting with a first group stage exit since 2002.
"We are all with him, he knows that he can count on the support of all of us more than ever," said Argentina striker Paulo Dybala of Messi. "We are here to help him every moment, and of course we will be at his side," Dybala added.
(Inputs from Reuters and PTI)
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