Serial Ballon d'Or winner Messi, 30, is widely considered the world's best but estimations suggest his dazzling ability will be overtaken in under three decades.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Star Online, futurologist Dr Ian Pearson believes, by then, robots will run faster, dribble better, shoot harder and pass with more accuracy than the human race could ever manage.

The former cybernetics engineer and founder of Futurizon – a website dedicated to future technology – has given this website an prediction of just 28 years in the future.

That would be a remarkable feat given that only 28 years in the past, Gary Lineker was leading England's forward line.

Dr Pearson, 57, exclusively told us: "In any sport a robot could lift more, it could jump higher, it could run faster, it could make faster turns on a football field and it could hit the ball harder.