Gary Neville believes that Cristiano Ronaldo overachieved at the World Cup in Qatar, as he has revealed his awards for the tournament ahead of today's final.
The former Manchester United defender was speaking in his Sky Sports column ahead of the final between France and Argentina, recounting the best and most disappointing performers of the tournament.
He revealed picks such as best player, best young player, manager of the tournament and biggest disappointments.
Advert
After 29 days, we reach the 64th and final game of the Qatar World Cup, and despite all of the controversy off the pitch, and sometimes on it, we've received a stellar tournament with drama, goals and great moments.
But who stood out for Neville?
With the final featuring Messi versus Mbappe, Neville believes the winner of the tournament will be officially crowned the best player, but he favoured Messi for the sheer quality of his overall performances.
Advert
Neville also sided with Argentina when picking his best young player, choosing Manchester City's Julian Alvarez over the likes of Gavi, Pedri and Jude Bellingham, who he all mentioned - but surprisingly no mention of Josko Gvardiol who was brilliant across Croatia's campaign that ended with a third-place finish.
Alvarez, 22, has scored four times and assisted once in six games so far, and his partnership with Messi has been key to Argentina reaching the final.
Neville also wrote in his column spoke about Ronaldo, claiming that many will feel he underachieved during the WC, but he believes his former Manchester United team-mate overachieved.
The former United defender also claimed that now former Portugal manager Fernando Santos let Ronaldo down, by not playing to his strengths like Argentina have done with Messi.
Advert
However, it is clear Messi can influence a game like no other, whilst Ronaldo's best days are clearly behind him.
Neville went onto say he felt sorry for Ronaldo ending his tournament in tears after Portugal's defeat by Morocco in what is likely to be his final World Cup.
He added: "I wouldn't class it as an underachievement from Cristiano, it's an overachievement for him to be doing what he's doing at 37 years of age.
"It's just the way it ended with him being out of the team, and how disappointing and poor Portugal were as a group chasing the game against Morocco."
Advert
In terms of manager of the tournament, the Sky Sports pundit awarded it to Morocco's Walid Regragui, who guided the African into the history books, as they became the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a WC.
Regragui has received incredible praise for his job, and it was revealed that he had attended a tactics seminar presented by Mikel Arteta on Zoom over a year ago, in which the Gunners manager broke down his side’s tactical masterclass against Manchester City in a 2020 FA Cup semi-final - and its clear those Zoom sessions paid off.
He also chose Belgium as the biggest disappointments, as they followed up their third-place finish in 2018 by exiting in the group stages, with Morocco and Croatia heading through.
Advert
Will it be Messi's crowning moment? Or will France win back-to-back World Cup's and rule the world once again? Either way, we'll find out very soon.
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Gary Neville, Football World Cup, Football
George Priestman