Gary Neville, a former defender for Manchester United, has stated that players and coaches from Argentina came together to guarantee that Lionel Messi had a successful World Cup.
Neville is of the opinion that Portugal did not play to Cristiano Ronaldo's abilities, while Ronaldo believes differently.
In Portugal's 1-0 loss to Morocco in the quarterfinals, Ronaldo was one of the players that came off the bench to play.
The 37-year-old player was also replaced by Goncalo Ramos, who scored a hat trick in Portugal's 6-1 victory over Switzerland in the Round of 16 matchup. Goncalo Ramos had replaced the player who had been dropped.
Ronaldo was only able to score once throughout his time in Qatar, and that goal came from the penalty spot during their first match in the group stage against Ghana.
"Messi has been managed by Argentina in terms of how the rest of the group has come around him, and they completely play to his strengths," said Neville. "Messi is the best player in the world right now."
"Whereas in Portugal and with Santos, given how long I've known Cristiano, I imagined he'd have done the same thing.
"I get the impression that something has transpired during the competition that has caused that strategy to shift, and Santos has thought, 'I need to leave you out.'"