Brazil forward Neymar says his Barcelona team-mate, Lionel Messi, was a deserving winner of the Golden Ball award as the 2014 World Cup's best player—but that Bastian Schweinsteiger and Arjen Robben also deserved recognition.
The Argentine was a surprise choice to win the award; he started brightly with four goals in the group stage but was quiet in the knockout games.
Neymar, however, suggests that Messi was right up there as one of the tournament's best.
In the interview above (Portuguese with Spanish subtitles), Neymar says when asked if Messi deserved the award, "I don't know whether it's right or not. For me, there were three players who were the best of the World Cup—Schweinsteiger and Robben were among the best as well. For me, those were the three outstanding players."
Of course, passing any opinion opens the floor up for disagreements, but there'll be plenty of people who feel James Rodriguez also deserves a mention.
Neymar himself might even have been in the equation had a back injury not put paid to his tournament, before Brazil's campaign fell apart in spectacular fashion.