Pretoria: Lionel Messi got up feeling good on Sunday after Argentina’s 1-0 win in their opening World Cup match had buried their qualifying nightmare but added his voice to the chorus of complaints over the Jabulani ball.

“The ball is very complicated for the goalkeepers and for us (players). I hope we gradually get used to it because we have no choice,” Messi said at a news conference in Argentina’s University of Pretoria camp.

Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 in their Group B opener in Johannesburg on Saturday with a scintillating performance from Messi that buried doubts about his ability to play as well for them as for Barcelona.

“I played a bit deeper than I usually do to be closer to the midfielders... who gave me play and made me feel comfortable,” Messi said.

The South American qualifiers were a nightmare at times for the little ace as Argentina struggled last year to reach the South Africa finals, but the mood is better in Pretoria, Messi said.

“(In South Africa) everything changed, the mentality of the squad and my mentality. The time we’ve spent here has been good, it helped us a lot and we took advantage of it,” he said.