Lionel Messi reflects on World Cup final: 'It was painful, because we had it right there'

The sad reality of this year's World Cup is that it provided Lionel Messi with what will most likely be his best shot at winning the tournament.

Consider that Argentina's production line isn't churning out prodigies like it once was, couple that with the next World Cup being hosted by Russia, and it's hard to imagine that a 31-year-old Messi be able to go a step further in 2018 than he did in Brazil.

Speaking ahead of Argentina's friendly versus Portugal on Tuesday, Messi was once again asked to reflect on his nation's 1-0 loss to Germany at the Maracana. Based on his response, the Barcelona phenom appears to still be grieving from the missed opportunity.

"It was painful, because we had it right there... We also felt bad about the way in which we lost," said Messi in an interview with Ole, as translated by AS. "We had the clearer chances to win the match. They kept hold of the ball but they didn't create chances. That made it harder to take. It was tough but playing up to the last day of the World Cup was the objective we had set ourselves. Very few people thought we would make it to the final..."

While Messi isn't entirely wrong about Germany keeping hold of the ball without creating chances, Joachim Low's side were undoubtedly the more threatening side throughout the final. Germany registered seven shots on target compared to Argentina's two, and created 64 dangerous attacks, more than twice as many as Alejandro Sabella's squad (30).