Viral video of Leo Messi showing 'Mbappe how it is done' in PSG warm-up is a joy to watch

Lionel Messi knows his way around a free-kick.

Despite not necessarily being revered as a set-piece expert during his early years at Barcelona, Messi elevated his free-kick skills throughout the mid-2010s to devastating heights that have barely dropped off.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner might never top Juninho Pernambucano’s purported world record for free-kick goals, but his prolific conversions in recent years have still seen him fly past Cristiano Ronaldo.

In fact, such was the level of fear that Messi instilled in his opponents from free-kicks during his final years at Camp Nou that teams called upon every trick in the book to try and stop him from scoring.

From players laying behind the wall like a draught extractor to standing on the line to help out the goalkeeper, rival sides knew that anything short of a waterproof defence would be unlocked by the little Argentine.

However, despite Messi’s magic seeming as though it pumps directly through his veins, the Barcelona icon hasn’t become so proficient from free-kicks without practice, practice, practice.

No doubt the rapid improvement that we saw from Messi’s dead-ball strikes across his prime years came from hours and hours on the training ground perfecting those trademarks curlers over the wall.

And when it comes to match day itself, Messi can almost always be seen getting a feel for his free-kicks with shooting drills from a dead ball.

There might not be a wall in place and the goalkeeper is hardly ever busting a gust to make the save, but Messi’s dummy free-kicks before matches tend to be a terrifying warning shot for what’s to come.

Besides, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you will almost certainly have come across at least one