For the Argentina international star, the quality of the playing time is more important than the quantity
Barcelona star Lionel Messi has admitted that he would prefer to come off the bench as a substitute rather than start and be replaced.
The logic of the 32-year-old, who counts five Ballons d’Or among his string of personal awards, is that by playing the closing stages of fixtures, he is able to better exploit spaces caused by tired opponents.
The forward has been one of the game’s master offensive craftsmen for years and posts a remarkable string of records to his name, with a club-record 606 goals scored for Barca in only 694 appearances.