On November 16, 2003, the Argentine genius made his debut for Barça in a friendly against Mourinho’s Porto.
It’s been twenty years now, but it seems like it was yesterday. On November 16, 2003, Leo Messi made his professional debut wearing the Barcelona shirt. It was a friendly match in Do Dragao, Porto’s home ground, led by Frank Rijkaard, culé coach at the time. That evening Messi, who in many media still ‘Lion Messy’, He entered the field in the 75th minute of the second half, replacing Fernando Navarro. And Leo, as always, did not disappoint. In just fifteen minutes he revolutionized the game. The first to be surprised by his dribbling and his devilish speed was the coach of the Portuguese team, none other than Jose Mourinho Illustrious to Barcelona fans because he was Robson’s second.
Messi, like the other youth gems, such as Jordi Gómez, Oriol Riera or Xavi Girard, traveled to Porto and received the support of then veterans such as Xavi Hernández or Gabri. Even Luis Enrique Martínez, the later national coach, who was then finishing his last matches as a player and culé captain. Leo, who was 16 years old and arrived after scoring a hat-trick against Granollers, attended the friendly in Portugal, supported by his family.
His father, mother and one of his brothers were traveling on the same flight. Only they knew what he had fought for to make his dream come true and make his debut as a Barça player. Messi, after three years at the La Masía factory, made history by making his debut at 16 years and 145 days, shattering club myths such as Carles Rexach (18 years and 3 months), Xavi Hernández (18 years and 6 months) or Pep Guardiola (19 years and 3 months).
When the friendly match ended, Frank Rijkaard couldn’t help but refer to Messi: “He only came out for fifteen minutes, played very well and had two scoring opportunities. The future is promising”. When the press asked Messi, the heart came out of the shy youth’s mouth: “I hope one day I can play in the First Division. “I never thought it could be true.”. It was true and it happened. That night Messi’s legend began and transformed the history of world football.
He entered the field wearing shirt number 14, his favorite number Cruyff, He dribbled past two rivals as soon as he came out, leaving Mourinho open-mouthed. That evening changed the history of Barcelona and of course that of football. The best had arrived.
Source: Goal