The best player in the world, Lionel Messi, has not always been a prophet in his homeland. Argentina's poor performances have often provoked unfair criticism towards the Barcelona star.

However, the qualification for next summer's World Cup, thanks to Messi's hat-trick against Ecuador, has changed the mind of even his most staunch critic.

The presenter Martín Liberman has always led the criticism against the Argentina captain. He has said he felt ashamed of Leo Messi, he's criticised the goals he scores for Barcelona which, he feels, he doesn't score for his country and he's responded to the player's sister with macho comments.

Hours before the Ecuador game, Liberman was back on the attack. However, after the best player in the world led Argentina to the World Cup, the journalist had to eat his words and ended up praising the magic of the No.10.

"What I have always asked of Messi is what he did yesterday," he said on his show. "If he really was the best player in the player in the world, he had to save us.... and yesterday he did."