Middlesbrough star Adama Traore has explained that he learned a lot from Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

Traore, 20, was able to break into the Barcelona first team following his exploits for the Catalan club's reserve side and during his time with the senior squad, he got the opportunity to work closely alongside superstar Messi.

The Boro attacker has touched on his experience of training with Messi and has stated that he learned a lot from the Argentine international's work ethic.

Traore told The Guardian: "In training at Barcelona Messi worked hard all the time.

"People would say 'This game will be easy for you, they're not a good team', but he ignored them.

"Messi could maybe get away with not trying 100% because he's the best player in the world. But he's the first at training. He's very professional. He was very good to watch and learn from.

"A lot of players in his position would relax sometimes. But, because of how he works, he's won the Ballon d'Or five times. I need to learn from this."