Argentina talisman and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, who enjoys a mammoth record of 432* goals in La Liga, said that it feels special to be the top-scorer in the top Spanish league.
“Being the top scorer in the league is special, and is one of the most beautiful records I have,” said Messi in an interview for La Liga.
“I remember many times that (Samuel) 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,” the talisman added.
Messi, who is one of the best scorers off free-kick, explained how he has improved his skills to reach the milestone.
“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 said.
Notably, the Argentine has bagged his world-record sixth Ballon d’Or in Paris early December. He surpassed the likes of Liverpool stars Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo to bag home the coveted award.
With this award, Messi has taken his Ballon d’Or tally to six and has become the most successful player since the inception of the award, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, who has five such awards to his name.