It was 19 years ago that 17-year-old Lionel Messi made his league debut for Barcelona and later went on to make the football world go crazy! The rest is history…

Nineteen years ago, a seemingly insignificant substitution took place during the Barcelona derby, but it later had a significant impact on football history. Just eight minutes before the end of the game, 17-year-old Lionel Messi, who would later become a living legend of the club, took the field in his official debut for the Barcelona FC first team.

The unusual signing of a boy just 13 years old has become a pivotal moment for FC Barcelona

The date of 16 October 2004 will forever remain in the hearts of fans as a moment that is indelibly etched in FC Barcelona’s history. It was the first time the Blaugranas saw the much-talked-about quiet boy in an official match for the first team.

He was just twelve years old when the name of the unknown boy who had astonished Argentina with his footballing skills began to be mentioned in the Barcelona offices. The discovery of Lionel Messi was due to Carles Rexach, a former player and coach of the club, who discovered him during his travels in Argentina.

There, he learned of a little boy who was playing for Newells Old Boys. While he was in Argentina, he had to go and watch him play. And Messi charmed him so much that he immediately wanted to get him to Barcelona.

That’s when Barcelona made one of the best moves in its more than 100-year history. At the age of 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. River Plate was interested in the young boy, but the Argentine club refused to pay the money for his treatment.

So Carles Rexach took the opportunity to offer Messi a contract including payment for treatment and a move to Barcelona. “Once in Barcelona, I decided to sign him on a paper napkin that the waiter gave me because I couldn’t let him get away,” Rexach told ESPN. “His father felt things were not going in the right direction and told me he was leaving. So I decided to act quickly.”

19 years ago, Lionel Messi made his debut at just 17 years old in a Blaugranas jersey

He was initially unable to start games due to a transfer problem from Newells, so for several months he just trained in the Catalan giant’s backroom. However, he progressed so quickly through Barcelona’s youth categories that Frank Rijkaard decided to give him a chance in the Blaugranas first team in November 2003 at just 16 years old.

It was during a friendly match against FC Porto led by José Mourinho. Messi only spent a little more than a quarter of an hour on the pitch, but already during this short performance the teenager showed how smoothly he can tackle much more experienced opponents.

Less than a year later, on 16 October 2004, at the age of 17 years and three months, he was the youngest player in Barcelona’s history to play an official match. In the seventh round of the league, the derby between home side Espanyol and FC Barcelona took place at the top of Montjuic.

Lionel Messi logically started the match on the substitutes’ bench. Portugal’s Deco opened the scoring in the ninth minute. He ended up being the only goal scorer of the match and it was the young Messi who replaced him with just eight minutes left in normal time.

Messi may have had little impact on the match itself, but there is no debate about the way he influenced the history of Barcelona and football.

In 778 games for the Catalan club, he has scored an incredible 672 goals, to which he has added 269 assists. That meant he needed just 67 minutes to contribute to Barcelona’s goal. He won an incredible 35 titles with the club and became a living legend of the club and the sport.

Source: FC Barcelona, ESPN, Twitter/X