Watch Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, arguably the best player in the world, take on yet another Japanese robot goalkeeper invention.

Taking part in a Japanese game show which pitted him against a robot goalkeeper, the Argentinian creative forward gets to take some free shots at the fairground-styled mechanical contraption in a test of man v machine.

As Messi strikes the ball the foreign goalie, reportedly named RoboKeeper, snaps into action (presumably with the aid of some super-fast cameras) and tries to prevent a goal – like any good robot goalkeeper would do.

The robot actually turns out to be pretty good and manages to save Messi’s first two attempts. Not to be denied though, the footballing superstar scores with his third try.

Watch the full game show segment below:

Roughly translated, the informative YouTube video description confirms that:

It truly is Messi!

Love robot goalkeepers as much as the Japanese? Why not check out the Super Great Toilet Keeper by TOTO and toto? Another great robot goalkeeper.

Enjoy the Japanese’s fascination with Messi? See Lionel Messi appear in a Japanese face wash advert.