Lionel Messi said he would swap all the titles he has won so far in his footballing career for the 2010 World Cup with Argentina.

“Nothing compares to the World Cup,” the FC Barcelona player said during an interview with Buenos Aires television channel ‘TyC Sports’.

“There are people who say I don’t feel for the Argentina shirt, but it is not like that. If I don’t, I would simply not play and don’t have to travel as much. I want the best, and like every Argentinian, I want to win the World Cup. I feel good playing for my country,” he said.

After a difficult qualifying round, Messi said, “from now on things are going to be quite different. We’ve made it through the hard times. It upset us and we suffered. But now we ready for the challenge,” Messi said, adding further, “We knew we were not at our best. They (our opponents) beat us on all sides, like it or not, it affected us a lot“.

“I would give everything to win the World Cup. It would be the biggest thing for me and for Argentina. I was lucky to have won a lot of titles at club level, but would swap all that for the World Cup,” he admitted.

Acknowledging that he feels responsible for Argentina success, and in light of the declarations made by Maradona that he was going to be “the first one (from the Argentina national team) to be shot in the Plaza de Mayo”, Messi assured, “the second one will be me”.

Finally asked about winning the Ballon d’Or, he admitted that he is “excited because it is an important award”, while regarding the Club World Cup, Messi said: “The final should be between Barcelona and (Argentina’s) Estudiantes de La Plata. I hope so, and that we would win it”.