Lionel Messi is regarded by many as the greatest footballer of all time but the Barcelona forward says there is one area in particular where he would like to improve – penalty taking.

Messi has scored 387 goals in 422 appearances for Barcelona in La Liga but his record from the spot is less impressive.

The forward’s most recent miss came at the World Cup with Argentina as he was denied by Iceland keeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson.

The 31-year-old has taken 103 penalties in his career and has failed to score 24 of those spot kicks.

“I would like to be more effective from the penalty spot,” he told Catalunya Radio.

“But it’s difficult to work on penalties. It’s not the same taking them in training as it is in a game.

You can have an idea in your head or something you have worked on, but it’s more difficult than it seems.

“The goalkeeper has a lot to do with it, too. If they guess right, they save it. But it’s obvious that I’d like to get better at taking penalties.”

Barcelona fought back from 1-0 down to defeat Real Sociedad 2-1 at the Anoeta on Saturday thanks to goals from Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele.

The Catalan giants are 1.53 to win La Liga outright and 6.50 to win the Champions League.

Barcelona kick off their Champions League campaign at home to PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday and are 8.00 to win 4-0.