Messi is NOT the greatest player of all time… even if he lifts the World Cup on Sunday, insists Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho believes Lionel Messi is not the greatest player of all time, and not even a man-of-the-match performance in the World Cup final will change that.

The Barcelona forward has finally delivered at a World Cup in guiding Argentina to the final at the Maracana, and now has a chance to emulate Diego Maradona by helping his country to glory.

Mourinho, speaking in his capacity as Yahoo’s Global Football Ambassador, thinks Messi is ‘a fantastic player’, but not the best to ever play the game.

The Chelsea manager said: ‘I think he is a fantastic player. He doesn’t need to win the World Cup to be considered a fantastic player. He doesn’t need to win the World Cup to be considered a historical player in this decade. But for me he is not the greatest player of all time.’

Argentina head into Sunday’s final against Germany in Rio de Janeiro as underdogs after Joachim Low’s side demolished Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final in Belo Horizonte.

But Mourinho thinks there will be little to separate the two teams at the Maracana, and thinks the midfield battle could be key to deciding the winner.

He said: ‘In midfield, where Germany is very strong because they have Schweinsteiger, Khedira and Kroos plus an important fact which is the fact  that Ozil drops back, Muller drops back and they put four or five players in a central area.

‘It’s where they are really strong and they start controlling the possession of the game and initiative of the game.

‘On the other side, its where Argentina is also very solid, with the outstanding Mascherano with the tactical discipline of Luca Biglia with fantastic effort, running and pressing and covering spaces from people like Enzo Perez and Lavezzi closing the sides.

‘So I think midfield will be a great battle and everybody will be waiting for the biggest talents to score a goal to win the match and both teams they have these talents.’