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Messi: We lacked killer instinct

Rio de Janiero - Argentina captain Lionel Messi regretted his side's missed chances after Germany beat his side 1-0 in the World Cup final on Sunday thanks to Mario Goetze's extra time goal.

As it happened: Germany v Argentina

Gonzalo Higuain, Rodrigo Palacio and Messi himself all passed up clear opportunities chances to put Argentina in front before Goetze struck seven minutes from time.

"There is sadness to finish in this way, I think we deserved a little more today", said the Barcelona star.

"The better chances were ours and between the forwards we couldn't take them," he told Direct TV.

Messi was still crowned as the player of the tournament for his performances and four goals in seven matches.

However, he insisted the individual award was scant consolation for missing out on a much bigger collective prize.

"The truth is it doesn't interest me at this moment," he said of the award.

"We wanted to win the World Cup for all the people in Argentina and we couldn't do it.

"We tried, but we didn't have the luck we had in other games."

And Messi insisted it was hard to take consolation from carrying his country to the final for the first time in 24 years in the immediate aftermath of the defeat.

"After a long time not getting past the quarter-finals we managed to get to the final, but today there is the disappointment of having lost in the last minutes of extra time."

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