Messi: I want World Cup

WORLD IS MY OYSTER ... Lionel Messi

LIONEL MESSI admits winning the World Cup with Argentina is the only thing missing in his glorious career.

Barcelona’s superstar striker made history this week after claiming an unprecedented FOURTH Ballon D’Or on the trot.

Lifting the World Cup will surely end the debate as to whether he is rightly hailed as the greatest player in football history.

Messi, 25, already has his rightful place in the pantheon of the game’s greats but readily concedes he would swap any of his Ballon D’Or trophies for the ultimate prize in football — a World Cup winner’s medal.

Messi said: “Winning the World Cup is what is missing. The truth is, yes, I would swap a Ballon D’Or for the World Cup, I’ve always felt like that. Nothing compares with being world champion.

“I want to achieve things with Barcelona and with my country, which I’ve always said is my dream.”

Even though he only won the Copa Del Rey with Barca last season, Messi cast a giant shadow over all of his rivals with his 91 goals for club and country in 2012.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was second in FIFA’s vote and Messi’s Barca team-mate Andres Iniesta, who led Spain to victory in Euro 2012, came third.

Messi set a stonking La Liga record with 50 goals and became the first player to score five in a single Champions League match in the 7-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

He also set a record for most strikes in a Champions League season with 14 — and was top marksman in UEFA’s elite competition for an unprecedented fourth successive year.

The Argentina wizard said: “It makes me so happy that many important people talk well of me.

“Each year my objective is to grow, not to stay with what I have. As for what I don’t know, I want to try and learn and get better.”

With 18 months left before the World Cup kicks off in Brazil, expectations back in his homeland are huge that Messi will finally deliver on the biggest stage.

Amazingly, for all the plaudits he receives in Europe, Messi has had to withstand fierce criticism back home in Argentina.

Things reached an all-time low when Argentina flopped in the Copa America on home soil 18 months ago after losing to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals. Then Messi called for unity and since then there has been a remarkable transformation in Argentina’s fortunes.

They did not lose a game in 2012 and currently sit top of their group in the South American qualifiers.

The Barca ace added: “Last year I was welcomed back home in a spectacular way because the people are now behind the national team.

“It had been a long time that this chemistry had been lost and I am happy we finished the year so well.”

Comparisons with the country’s greatest ever player Diego Maradona have always weighed heavily on Messi.

Football-mad Argentina have not won the World Cup since 1986 when Maradona, ahem, single-handedly led them to a historic triumph He continued: “We are working hard to give the people of Argentina the best, and many joys. Today, you can see the unity. That makes Argentina stronger.

“To see people talking well of the national team is different to see criticism from everywhere before you even set foot back. That hurts.”

Messi concluded: “We know we are on the right track but we need to continue growing as a team.”

Messi dedicated his Ballon D’Or triumph to cancer-stricken Barca boss Tito Vilanova and team-mate Eric Abidal.

Vilanova returned for Sunday’s 4-0 thrashing of Espanyol just two weeks after undergoing surgery on a cancerous growth in a salivary gland. And left-back Abidal is also back in training after an op on his liver last year.

Messi said: “I’d like to share this award with Tito and Abidal. It was a tough blow for all what happened to them and to see them now working with us again makes me so happy.

“And my partner and son who give me the most beautiful feelings life has to offer.”