Franz Beckenbauer: "Lionel Messi is a genius"

Germany's World Cup-winning skipper Franz Beckenbauer has labelled Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi a "genius".

Beckenbauer, who lifted the European Cup three times with Bayern Munich, has also claimed that the Argentine is a mixture of Diego Maradona and Bobby Charlton.

"Messi is a genius. He has everything. When I watch him, I see a player who is very, very, skilful, very clever – and his left foot is like Diego Maradona's," Beckenbauer told reporters.

"The difference is Messi is also like Bobby Charlton. He is a nice man, he's a gentleman. You will never hear him telling you bad things about this or that."

Beckenbauer made 103 appearances for his country.