Barcelona star Lionel Messi says that he doesn't need to shout about his achievements like Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic because he knows how good he is.

Despite being one of the greatest players of all time, Messi rarely speaks about his achievements.

As reported by Marca, Messi said: 'I'd rather people talk about me. I know what I am, what I did and what I can give, but I keep it to myself. People can have their say. I don't like to talk about myself, I like to talk about the collective.'

Barcelona star Lionel Messi says that he doesn't shout about his achievements

Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are much more outspoken about their success

At the age of 32, Messi is now in the latter stages of his career and, perhaps inevitably, has struggled with several injuries over the past year.

So far this season Messi has been restricted to just five appearances in all competition due to foot and adductor problems.

Messi admits he has to take greater care of his body after suffering several injuries recently

Messi was presented with new adidas boots this week in homage to his 15 years at Barcelona

Messi was also presented with his sixth Golden Shoe award on Wednesday afternoon

He accepted the award with wife Antonella Roccuzzo and sons Thiago and Mateo in Barcelona

MESSI'S INJURIES SINCE THE START OF LAST SEASON October 21 2018 - November 9 - Forearm fracture March 23 2019 - March 29 - Groin August 5 - September 16 - Foot September 25 - October 1 - Adductor Advertisement

Messi admits that he now has to prepare differently for matches and take greater care of his body than he did previously.

He said: 'It is difficult because your mind is fine; you think that you are 25 years old and that you can continue doing the same things [as before] at the time.

'But the body rules and there are circumstances in which you have to be more careful than before. Adapting to it requires a process and preparing differently for training and matches.'

Messi has spent the entirety of his career to date at Barcelona, while Ronaldo, in contrast, has played for clubs in four different countries.

Despite having had chances to move elsewhere, Messi stresses that he never had any intentions of leaving Barcelona.

Messi says he has always wanted to stay at Barcelona and added he could move into midfield

He said: 'Everyone looks for their targets and their experiences. I never had the need to leave the best club in the world, that Barcelona are, and where I enjoy training, games and the city. [The city to club dynamic] is very complete and I was always sure about the targets at this club [rather than going to] look for it elsewhere.'

There have been suggestions that Messi could make the transition from an attacker to a midfielder over the next couple of years.

Messi says that such a scenario is a possibility, and added that he often drops into midfield during games in any case.

He said: 'I don't know, it depends on how it goes. Now I usually drop myself deeper [on the pitch] to receive and be in contact with the ball and the midfield. I don't know what will happen in the future.'