Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport 

Lionel Messi has revealed “it was hard for me to score a lot of goals in the first years” before becoming La Liga’s most successful goalscorer in history.

The comments came from Argentine winger Messi, 32, in an interview with La Liga as the competition celebrates its 90th anniversary.

During the interview, Messi revealed a story with Cameroon legend Samuel Eto’o, 38, when he struggled to find the net saying: “I made mistakes or I was not lucky. It was hard for me to score a lot of goals in the first years.

“I remember Eto’o used to tell me a lot of times ‘The day you start scoring goals, you’re going to be …’” seemingly implying his great potential.

Messi went on to say: “I had a lot of opportunities but I could not score until one day I opened the lid, the ball went in and they all started going in.”

Messi has since become Barcelona’s top goalscorer in history, scoring 50 or more goals for club and country every calendar year since 2010, with the exception of 2013 when he scored 43.

The Argentine superstar has 432 goals in La Liga, over 120 more than his nearest rival, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, 34, who currently plays for Juventus.

Messi went on to say: “For me, to be the top scorer in this league, knowing what the Spanish league means, is special. I think it is one of the nicest records I have.

“I started to take special notice in the free kicks to see if the goalie moves or takes a step, how he reacts or places the wall. The truth is I study it more now.

“It is all work and training. I think I improved my strike with training.”

When speaking about his personal life he said: “We have a very upbeat lifestyle that depends on the kids.

“I finish training, I go home to eat something quickly and then go pick up the kids at school. We depend on them a lot, the truth is my naps have really gone down.”

Messi is married to Argentine model Antonella Roccuzzo, 31, who he has three sons with.

The forward has scored 618 career goals for Barcelona in all competitions in 705 appearances.

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