In the eyes of many, Lionel Andres Messi is the greatest footballer of all time.

The Barcelona legend has enjoyed a quite incredible career and he's still going strong at the age of 33, scoring 23 goals and contributing eight assists in just 26 La Liga games this season

He really is a phenomenon and very few - if any - defenders who have played against him have escaped without being humiliated.

Messi's incredible dribbling ability has seen him leave many opposing players in a heap on the turf, the most famous case being Jerome Boateng and his failed attempt at stopping the Argentine in 2015.

But Messi's unique powers with the ball at his feet aren't just reserved for competitive games.

According to his former teammate Thierry Henry, the global icon uses them in training and he does so in a devastating manner when not awarded a free-kick by the coach.

Below, you can listen to the Frenchman's story about what happened after Messi got 'angry' in a game against his Barcelona colleagues...

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"So when the ball went back to his goalkeeper, he (Messi) ran back and demanded the ball," an extract in Rio Ferdinand's autobiography reads, per Irish Times.

"The goalkeeper rolled him the ball, and Messi then proceeded to run through the entire team and score in anger.

"Thierry said that was what he used to do in the playground at school. I did stuff like that too against little kids. But he (Messi) did it against some of the best in the world: Yaya Toure, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets.

"And it wasn't just that one time. He did it a couple of times.

"Thierry said: 'Can Ronaldo do that?' I said, 'Well, I've never seen him do that.'

"Thierry played with Zidane and Ronaldinho but they never did anything like that. He said: 'That's when I knew Messi was different to anyone we've ever seen.'"

Messi really is unique, a player with so much natural ability that it's almost not fair on the rest.

The six-time Ballon d'Or winner is arguably the greatest goalscorer, dribbler and playmaker of all time, a footballer unlike any other in the history of the sport.

Make the most of his final years as a player, because we may never anyone quite like Messi again.