Leo Messi was still a member of Barcelona's Juvenil A side on the 16th November 2003. He'd played in a magical way since he was young and arrived at Barça when he was just 13 - but he'll stay there forever. At just 16 years of age it was clear to everyone how talented he was.
His talent was so special that Frank Rijkaard decided to bring the 16-year-old along with the first team for a friendly against Porto. It was the inaugural match to be played at their Estadio do Dragão and they invited FC Barcelona to be their first opponents. Not many expected it would also signal the debut of one of football's future icons.
I'm sure that Messi's eyes lit up when he was told he'd be playing. He knew he could bring so much to FC Barcelona but no one thought a young Argentine, who was quite small and with floppy hair that flowed back and forth whenever he went on his mazy runs, would end up becoming the greatest player of all time.
Rijkaard's team was suffering from a lot of injuries and he decided to bring along some of the B side as well as some promising youngsters. Leo was one of those but he had never trained with the first team up until that point. Messi and Rijkaard spoke for the first time in the airport before the team flew out to Portugal. However the Dutch coach knew Messi wasn't any ordinary kid as he'd already scored 11 goals in 10 matches for the B side despite being much younger than his teammates and opponents.
Barça lost 2-0 to Jose Mourinho's Porto side. Messi played 15 minutes after replacing Fernando Navarro and despite having two good chances to score, he wouldn't get on the scoresheet that day.
Soon everybody from the media to fans of FC Barcelona were aware of how incredibly gifted this youngster was. Rijkaard himself said: "He's clearly got talent. He's a player with a very promising future." The Dutchman wasn't wrong.
During those 15 years, Leo Messi has won five Ballon d'Ors and a total of 33 titles at FC Barcelona:
3x UEFA Super Cup (2009/10, 2011/12, 2015/16)
4x Champions League (2005/06, 2008/09, 2010/11, 2014/15)
8x Spanish Super Cup (2005/06, 2006/07, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2016/17, 2018/19)
3x Club World Cup (2009/10, 2011/12, 2015/16)
6x Copa del Rey (2008/09, 2011/12, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18)
9x LaLiga (2004/05, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2012/13, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18).