The day Diego Maradona taught Messi how to take freekicks

Barcelona have witnessed Lionel Messi‘s development as a footballer over the years, yet one of the more recent improvements has been his freekick accuracy, and that stems from a day when Diego Maradona taught him how to take the set-pieces.

The 2018/19 season has seen Messi treat freekicks like penalties, such has been his accuracy, and his latest strike against Liverpool was simply one of the best he’s ever taken.

Fernando Signorini was the fitness coach for the Argentine national team during Maradona‘s spell in charge, and he recalled the exchange.

“In February 2009, a few months after Diego Maradona took over as coach, we went to France to play a friendly, and the day before we trained in the stadium,” Signorini explained in his book.

“When Maradona said the session had finished, Mascherano, Tevez and Messi asked him if they could stay practicing their freekicks.

“Messi hit a shot that went way over the bar, he made a gesture of annoyance and headed for the dressing room.”

This was a response that infuriated the former Napoli star, and he set about improving Messi‘s technique.

“Maradona was furious, he said he couldn’t believe a player with Messi‘s talents was going to shower after producing such a poor free kick,” he intimated.

“It was like a teacher with a student.

“He told Messi not to take his foot off the ball so quickly, and then curled a shot into the corner himself, Messi looked at him with admiration.”