Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (February 15th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, please post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!
On this day in 2002 - Messi officially became a Barca player
After a year at Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia, Messi was finally enrolled in the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in February 2002. Now playing in all competitions, he befriended his teammates, among whom were Cesc Fàbregas and Gerard Piqué. After completing his growth hormone treatment aged 14, Messi became an integral part of the "Baby Dream Team", Barcelona's greatest-ever youth side. During his first full season (2002–03), he was top scorer with 36 goals in 30 games for the Cadetes A, who won an unprecedented treble of the league and both the Spanish and Catalan cups.
At 16 years, four months, and 23 days old, Messi made his first team debut when he came on in the 75th minute during a friendly against José Mourinho's Porto on 16 November 2003.
The rest is history.
On this day in 2015 - Messi became La Liga's all-time record assist leader in his 300th appearance
Lionel Messi marked his 300th La Liga appearance with a record-equalling hat-trick and an assist for Neymar, which made him the all-time record assist leader in La Liga.
Messi completed his 23rd La Liga hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 65th minute, giving him a share of the record set by Real's Cristiano Ronaldo earlier that season.
On this day in 2017 - Bayern thrashed Arsenal 5-1
In the first leg of 2016/17 Champions League last-16 tie, Bayern Munich thrashed Arsenal 5-1.
Arsenal went behind after 11 minutes when Arjen Robben drifted in from the right to fire into the top corner. Alexis Sanchez grabbed the equaliser, squeezing in a rebound from a penalty won by Laurent Koscielny. Koscielny then had to be withdrawn in the second half after suffering what appeared to be a hamstring injury. Bayern regained the lead on 53 minutes when Robert Lewandowski headed in from Philipp Lahm's cross.
And within three minutes of taking the lead, Thiago doubled it for Bayern after Lewandowski's backheel. Thiago added Bayern's fourth of the night with a deflected shot that found its way past keeper David Ospina. Thomas Muller came on as a substitute and made the victory even more emphatic by scoring Bayern's fifth.
On this day in 2014 - Man City beated Chelsea 2-0 in FA Cup
Chelsea travel to the Etihad on Saturday to face Manchester City for the second time in 15 days. Manchester City exacted their revenge on a Chelsea side that has beaten them before in the Premier League this season with Jovetic and Nasri's goals that put them in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
On this day in 1998 - Brazilian striker Ronaldo scored a classic for Inter
On this day in 1998, Ronaldo scored such a brilliant goal as Inter beat Lecce 5-0.
Dribbling at pace, strength and a clinical finish, it was O Fenomeno at his wonderful best.
On this day in 2004 - Vermaelen made his debut for Ajax
Vermaelen joined the academy of Dutch club Ajax. He made his professional debut on 15 February 2004 in a 0–2 away win over FC Volendam.
His breakthrough came when he returned to Ajax and won the KNVB Cup. Performances that season resulted in a call-up to the Belgium national football team. Ajax won the Johan Cruyff Shield and another KNVB Cup the following season and in 2007, they won the Johan Cruyff Shield for the second consecutive time. Following the departure of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in mid-season, Vermaelen served as captain of Ajax for the remainder of the 2008–09 season, where he mostly played as a left-back.
On this day in 1995 - The Lansdowne Road riot happened
On 15 February 1995, a riot erupted at a friendly between Ireland and England in Dublin. A subsequent report laid the blame on English supporters and Irish authorities.
The supporters in question were members of Combat 18, an English neo-Nazi white supremacist group with a history of violence including football hooliganism. They wasted little time in turning the friendly ugly, chanting "sieg heil" and giving Nazi salutes during the playing of the national anthems.After a disallowed English goal, the away supporters in the higher stands ripped up benches and threw them down onto the home fans in the lower stands, prompting the referee to halt the game and send the teams off the pitch. Ireland manager Jack Charlton, a former English international, left to chants of "Judas."
The violence escalated, with rioting in the stands as the referee decided to cancel the remainder of the match. Most fans were evacuated, but those that remained clashed with police. A total of twenty people were injured.Afterwards, an inquiry found the English supporters, and Combat 18 in particular, responsible for the outbreak of violence. But the Irish authorities also shared some of the blame. They had been alerted before the match to the presence of Combat 18, but failed to take action (and even declined assistance offered by their English counterparts).