Lionel Messi faces day of destiny for Argentina vs Germany

World's best player would merit a place alongside Diego Maradona and Pele in the game's trinity of immortals if he can lead his side to victory in the Maracana 

Lionel Messi is fighting history as well as trying to make it. World Cup finals have become desperately tight affairs: the last six, stretching from Italia ’90 to South Africa 2010, have produced only nine goals whereas the previous six, dating from Wembley ’66 to the Azteca in ’86, wallowed in 27 goals. Defences have become parsimonious. If Messi helps Argentina to become world champions, the 27-year-old rightly deserves to be hailed alongside Pele and Diego Maradona as the three greats of the game.

Brazil's worst nightmare defeat to Germany in World Cup History

 If you saw the game on television, no, you didn't imagine it. If you didn't watch it but heard about it, the rumors are true.

Brazil really did concede five goals in the first half hour of its World Cup semifinal against Germany. It really did get dumped out of the tournament 7-1. The dream really did end in little more than a heartbeat because of a devastating burst of brilliant attacking and utterly inept defending to form the most extraordinary outcome of all.

The World Cup is magical, the sort of thing that everyone should sample at least once in their lifetime. But not like this. Unless you are a diehard Germany fan you were lucky not to be here at the Estadio Mineirao as perhaps the proudest soccer nation of all was humiliated and had its heart shredded.

How Germany crush Brazil with Goals in World Cup history

Thomas Mueller wrote the ending to this semifinal match between Germany and Brazil in the 11th minute.

Sure, the four German goals that followed before the 30th minute sealed the deal, but Mueller's finish was all fans needed to see to know how this one was going to play out.

Off a corner kick, inexplicably unmarked in the goal box after a communication mix-up involving David Luiz, Mueller easily reeled in the ball beyond all Brazil defenders and calmly struck it into the bottom right corner of the net.

It was indicative of the way Germany would handle Brazil throughout in a calamitous defensive effort that resulted in a 7-1 loss for the host nation – the most goals scored on Brazil in 80 years.

"Everything was organized for us until the moment of that first goal," Brazil coach Luis Scolari said. "Then, we got disorganized and then we kind of started to panic and everything went great for [Germany] from there and everything went terribly for us.

I hope you recover soon... Messi

The Argentina forward expresses his support for his Barcelona teammate after he was ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a fractured vertebra against Colombia

Lionel Messi has sent a personal message of support to Neymar after the Brazil star's World Cup was brought to a premature end through injury.

The 22-year-old suffered a broken vertebra after taking a knee in the back from Colombia's Juan Zuniga during the Selecao's 2-1 quarter-final win in Fortaleza on Friday evening.

Colombia’s Juan Zuniga receives angry and creepy threats on Twitter after injuring Brazil star Neymar

Colombia’s Juan Zuniga has not only seemingly become the most vilified man in Brazil after ending Neymar’s World Cup – but the defender has also become the target for abuse and anger on Twitter.

Zuniga kneed the 22-year-old in the back towards the end of the quarter-final tie in Fortaleza on Friday, which resulted in Neymar being stretchered off the field in tears.

Team doctor, Rodrigo Lasma, later revealed that the Barcelona forward would miss the rest of the tournament with a fractured vertebra but wouldn’t require surgery for the injury.