Lionel Messi: Why I’m  studying goalkeeping 

Barcelona star, Lionel Messi, has proven himself to be one of the deadliest players in the world from set pieces – with 52 goals from free kicks.

And now the Argentine has shared the secrets of his success from the dead ball, admitting that he has started to study the movements of a goalkeeper in order to get the upper hard.

Speaking to La Liga, the 32-year-old said watching the behaviour of the goalkeeper standing behind the wall is key to upping his strike rate.

‘I started to study free-kicks more to see if the goalkeeper moves before [the ball is kicked], if he takes a step and if not how he reacts, where he places the wall.

‘The truth is that everything is work and training, and I’ve been getting better with training.’

Messi, who bagged a record sixth Ballon D’or prize this year, has been scoring goals left, right and centre this season – with 15 strikes in 18 appearances, despite having time on the sidelines with an injury.

It’s sometimes hard to keep up with Messi’s record breaking stats, and although it was five years ago, the star has admitted his pride at becoming the all-time goalscorer in La Liga history.

Messi overtook Telmo Zarra’s 251 goals in 2014 and now has 432 strikes in the top flight – giving him a sizeable lead over the next competitor – and he believes the accolade is one of his proudest achievements.

‘Being the top scorer in the league is special, and is one of the most beautiful records I have,’ he said.

He revealed a conversation with former Barca striker Samuel Eto’o, where the Cameroonian encouraged him to keep going as a youngster despite not having a great deal of luck in front of goal initially.

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‘I remember many times that Eto’o told me: “The day you start to score goals is going to be…” because there were many chances but I couldn’t convert them.

‘One day I scored and then they all started to go in. Every time I go out on the pitch I am less focused on the goal and more on the game.’