Lionel Messi secret revealed by Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde on eve of Clasico

LIONEL MESSI'S secret to success at Barcelona has been revealed by coach Ernesto Valverde.

Posted Saturday, March 02, 2019 by Dailystar.co.uk

Lionel Messi secret revealed by Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde on eve of Clasico
Lionel Messi is Barcelona's talisman - but his secret to success has now been revealed (Pic: GETTY)

Lionel Messi is Barcelona’s talisman and one of the greatest players of all time.

He’ll be their go-to man again tonight when they head to bitter rivals Real Madrid in El Clasico.

And fans who love watching the Argentine superstar in action should pay close attention to what Messi does at the start of the game.

That’s after coach Valverde revealed to the Financial Times that Messi likes to reserve the first few minutes of every match to analyse the opposition, to interpret their weaknesses and to work out how he can cause maximum damage.

It’s said Messi ignores the ball and instead walks around making a mental note of where their defenders position themselves.

“Then, as the game advances, he gets in little by little. But he knows perfectly where the rivals’ weaknesses are, ” Valverde said.

Valverde was asked about Messi’s fitness on the eve of the fourth Clasico of the season on Saturday night.

"I think he is in good shape, very good shape. You always expect a lot of your players, Messi included," he said.

"He always performs, even though in some games he performs less than in others. We have to play well in order for him to perform.

"It's true that the other day there were spells when we did not play well, they kept arriving in our area and looked dangerous and we only created two or three chances.

“The aim is always to improve and create more chances.”

Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday and Valverde wants more of the same at the Bernabeu.

"We are playing for points, it's a different competition to Wednesday and it's difficult to get the same result in two games in a row but we will try and win," he added.

"It would give us a huge confidence boost and take more points from Madrid, who are a direct rival. On Wednesday we all saw how difficult it is to play there, but we'll give it a go."