Lionel Messi admits to ‘weakness’ in his game that ‘eats at him’ 

Lionel Messi has previously opened up about the one weakness in his game that may come as a surprise.

Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi is among the greatest players in history, while some believe the pint-sized Argentina icon to be the best footballer of all time.

The 37-year-old is the most decorated player ever, having won 45 team trophies including 12 domestic titles, four Champions League crowns, two Copa Americas and one World Cup.

He also holds a spate of records, including the most European Golden Shoe (six) trophies, the most goals for a single club (672 with Barcelona) as well as the most La Liga goals (474), hat-ticks (36) and assists (192).

Yet, Messi, by his own admission, still has weaknesses to his game.

He told Barcelona’s in-house media team in 2018 that he wanted to improve his penalty taking.

"Is there one thing that eats at me?” He said. “I would like to be much more effective on penalty kicks. Practicing them is not the same as taking them in a game."

Messi has netted 111 penalties in his career, including a converted spot-kick in a World Cup final penalty shootout with France. However, he has missed 31 penalties, the same number as his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Argentine has had a spate of high profile misses from the spot however, including in the 2012 Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, and in the shootout of the Copa America final against Chile in 2016.

The attacker was on the losing side of both of those fixtures.

Messi Penalty shot

Indeed, the Chile encounter, which was the player’s fourth final loss with Argentina and third consecutive Copa America final defeat, was so devastating the Messi temporarily retired from international football.

Of course, he subsequently overturned that decision and poetically went on to achieve international glory in the 2021 and 2024 Copa America as well as the 2022 World Cup.