VIDEO: One of the best debuts! Messi shone for the first time at the World Cup 17 years ago, managing a goal and an assist in 16 minutes. Maradona also shone when he came on

It was June 16, 2006. The World Cup was underway in Germany and Argentina arrived with a very interesting squad, the youngest member of which was only 18-year-old Lionel Messi. For the rising star of Barcelona it was, of course, his first participation in a world championship. Right from his debut, Messi was able to shine.

Carlos Tévez, Gabriel Heinze, Lucho González, Hernán Crespo, Javier Mascherano, Juan Román Riquelme, Esteban Cambiasso, Pablo Aimar and Javier Saviola. This is just a short list of interesting names that were not missing from Argentina’s 2006 World Cup selection.

The youngest member of the squad was the then 18-year-old Lionel Messi, who managed to play seven senior matches before the championship. Although he played only 90 minutes twice for Argentina, he showed potential even then, with a goal and three assists.

However, he had not yet gone to the World Cup in Germany as one of the main driving forces. On the contrary. Rather in the role of a young joker, who can really revive the game if he enters. Moreover, he was supposed to gain experience that he will capitalize on in the years to come.

In Argentina’s first game of the tournament, he did not play at all, the South American team defeated Ivory Coast 2-1. In the second match, however, the rising star made his debut.

Messi took the field for the last 16 minutes of the match. When he came on, the legendary Diego Maradona also shone in the stands. He was beside himself with happiness.

It didn’t take long to see why. It was a duel with Serbia and Montenegro, the then still united national team of these two now independent countries.

Argentina led 3-0, the game could have been played out in peace, but Messi brought a lot of energy to the pitch, got the game moving and started to shine. After just four minutes, Crespo crossed the ball in for a goal.

Eight minutes later, Tévez increased the score to 5:0, and in the 88th minute, he passed the ball to Messi, who did not hesitate and closed the score to 6:0. With a fantastic debut, the young Argentine asked for more minutes.

In the next match, he played against the Netherlands in the starting line-up and was part of the goalless draw, which was enough to advance from the group. He came on as a substitute in the eight-final against Mexico, but did not make his mark in the statistics.

The next stage was the final one for Argentina. In the quarter-finals, they fell to Germany, who went on to win bronze. Messi did not play.

However, he has since won one silver medal and finally managed to win football’s most valuable trophy with Argentina in 2022.

Source: FIFA, Twitter, Transfermarkt