Messi names 4 W-Cup favourites

Argentina captain Lionel Messi names four countries that are favourite to win 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The 30-year-old Barcelona talisman hopping of winning one of the trophies missing in his cabinet in the summer with La Albiceleste reached the final in 2014 but lost 1-0 to Germany.

Despite going so far in the last tournament in Brazil Messi insisted that four other nations ahead of winning the title more than Argentina in Russia.

The South American who are in a group with Nigeria, Iceland and Croatia, will be motivated by the heartbreak of losing in the final in Brazil.

“Right now we’re not among the contenders to win the World Cup,’ argued the Barcelona star. ‘There are much better teams like Spain, Germany, Brazil and France.’ he told Fox Sports Argentina.

“It was tough because we weren’t able to lift it [the World Cup trophy],

“Passing next to the World Cup trophy was horrible. ‘We want to get rid of the bad taste and win the World Cup. To be so close and not being able to lift the trophy on previous occasions was a disappointment for all of us.

“We have a debt with ourselves [the players]. We don’t owe the fans anything because we always give our 100 percent. We’ve gotten to three finals [the 2014 World Cup and 2015 and 2016 Copa Americas].

“We feel that it’s now or never. Because this is it, we have to think that this could be the last for this group of players.’

Argentina takes on Croatian in their opener before facing debutant Iceland and Nigeria.