Argentina captain Lionel Messi has picked the teams he believes are the favourites to win the World Cup in Qatar.

The 35-year-old has snubbed his team and named Spain, England, Germany, France and Brazil as favourites but feels the last two teams stand a realistic chance of winning the Qatar edition of the tournament.

“As for the favourites, there are big teams like Brazil, Germany, France, England, Spain, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some,” Messi told DIRECTV, as cited by RMC Sport.

“But if I have to keep one or two, today I think Brazil and France are the two big candidates for this World Cup.”

Messi said both Brazil and France have a core group of players who have played together for a long time.

“They’ve had the same group [of players] for a long time, working well. France, aside from the last Euros when they were eliminated [in the last 16] and did badly, they have some impressive players.

“They have a clear idea and the same coach [Didier Deschamps]. Brazil is a bit the same [under Tite],” Messi added.

Argentina will play Saudi Arabia on November 22 in their first Group C game before facing Mexico and Poland in the coming days.