Messi largely justified his tag as the world's best player during Argentina's first four matches in the tournament, but failed to deliver in the quarterfinal.

Still, Diego Maradona said Messi played a “great World Cup” and gave everything for his country.

He said: “To see Messi cry in the dressing room, whoever says that he doesn't feel pride for his shirt is stupid.” Maradona said he could not explain why Messi failed to score, but defended him, claiming the Barcelona star had a good tournament.

"It was either because the ball was not in the right spot or because the goalies were good,” said Maradona.

Maradona gave Messi a free role in the match and the striker opted to operate down the middle.

Argentina were giving him the ball at every opportunity in the hope that he could weave his magic and get them back in the game, but once Germany's second goal went in his tournament was effectively over.

German coach coach Joachim Loew said his team was successful in snuffing out the Messi threat.

"We expected the Argentine line-up and knew Messi would fall back into midfield," he said.

"He is a key player so we tried to keep him under control by putting him under pressure and staying close to him.

"We knew that if we attacked Messi in an unfair way, he'd play the ball away and we would have free kicks against us, so our defense was spot on." It is the second time that Messi has seen his World Cup dream shattered by Germany, after they were beaten 4-2 on penalties at the same stage in 2006.

Back then, former coach Jose Pekerman described Messi as "a jewel" but he benched the youngster instead of allowing him to provide the extra degree of luster required to see off Germany.

Maradona never had similar thoughts, but despite starting this time Messi leaves empty-handed once again.