Barcelona star Lionel Messi has revealed that penalties are the one major area of his game that he would like to improve.

Messi is widely renowned as one of the greatest players of all time and has won an array of trophies at Barcelona.

However, the Argentina international, who has scored 71 of the 88 penalties he has taken during his career, wants to improve his spot-kicks.

Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi has revealed that he would like to improve his penalty taking

Asked on Catalunya Radio what he would like to improve, Messi said: 'The penalties. I'd like to be more effective.'

Messi stressed that it is difficult to improve at taking penalties as it is impossible to replicate a match scenario on the training ground.

He said: 'It's very difficult. It's not the same to practise them as it is to take them in a game.

'There are a lot of other factors at play.

Messi missed a penalty when Argentina faced Iceland at the World Cup during the summer

LIONEL MESSI'S BARCELONA CAREER 641 appearances, 556 goals Trophies won: La Liga: 2004/05, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2012/13, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18 Copa del Rey: 2009, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Supercopa de Espana: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018 UEFA Champions League: 2006, 2009, 2011, 2015 UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011, 2015 FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011, 2015 Advertisement

'You can have a plan or have an idea about what to do, but when the moment comes it's much more difficult to do it than it looks.

'Today's goalkeepers save some penalties that the ones in the past wouldn't have.

'But, yeah, this is a thing that I'd like to be better at.'

Messi missed a penalty for Argentina during the World Cup as his side drew 1-1 against Iceland.

So far this season Messi has been in excellent form for Barcelona, as evidenced by the fact that he has scored four goals in his first three La Liga games.

Currently with the Argentina squad, Messi will be seeking to make a major impact during the upcoming friendlies against Guatemala and Colombia.

Argentina are aiming to return to winning ways having lost 4-3 to France in the last-16 stage at the World Cup.