Lionel Messi: Barcelona superstar told he needs more support

The Barcelona superstar’s international future is up in the air after an underwhelming World Cup campaign in Russia.

Messi has said he doesn’t want to be selected for the time being – but hasn’t revealed if that is a permanent decision.

Argentine legend Maradona has urged him to stay in exile.

The 57-year-old reckons the diminutive star is taken for granted.

He told Infobae: “That’s why I am telling him not to come back and take all of the blame.

“We will mourn him because there is no other player like him, but just as Messi falls, so does the AFA.”

Maradona also insists Messi should have been given more protection by his Barca team-mate Javier Mascherano.

“It is very easy to say that Messi is to blame, but they are going to kill the kid,” he added.

“And this kills me because if there are comrades who really love Messi, they should have come out and defended him, not press silence.

“I was wrong about Mascherano, I thought he was a leader.

“Today, I have to say that Mascherano is not what I believed, but that mistake is totally mine, not his.”

England hero Wayne Rooney claimed earlier this week that Messi is the best player of all time.

The Barca hero and Cristiano Ronaldo are widely acknowledged as two of the greatest players in history.

Rooney, however, reckons Messi has the edge having locked horns with him in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals.

“In both games (Champions League finals) if we had been against any other team but Barcelona you would have fancied us [Manchester United] to win,” Rooney said.

“In my eyes they are the best team ever and Messi is the best player ever.

“What he gets to do is incredible. Messi has just got a bit of everything.

“Ronaldo has gone from a winger to a striker and a goalscorer.

“Rather than taking players on all the time, he has gone more one or two touch, getting in the box and scoring goals.

“Messi a bit of everything – you see him scoring goals from playing probably a deep midfield role at times, and where I’m probably still walking on the pitch he’s scoring.

“So he is probably the best.”