Barcelona
Messi made his official debut for the first-team on 16 November 2003 aged 16 years and 145 days, in a
friendly match against
F.C. Porto. Less than a year later,
Frank Rijkaard let him make his league debut against
Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (at 17 years and 114 days), becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for Barcelona and youngest club player who played in La Liga. This record broken by Barca team mate
Bojan Krkić in September 2007. When he scored his first senior goal for the club against
Albacete on 1 May 2005, Messi was 17 years, ten months and seven days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for Barcelona
until it was again broken by Bojan Krkić in 2007, scoring from a Messi assist.
Messi said about his ex-coach
Frank Rijkaard: "I'll never forget the fact that he launched my career, that he had confidence in me while I was only sixteen or seventeen."
2005–06 season
The Maradona and Pele polemics will end.
On 16 September, for the second time in three months, Barcelona announced an update to Messi's contract; this time it was improved to pay him as a first team member and extended until June 2014.
Messi obtained Spanish
citizenship on 26 September 2005
and was finally able to make his debut in
the season's
Spanish First Division. Messi's first home outing in the
Champions League came on 27 September against Italian club
Udinese. Fans at Barcelona's stadium, the
Camp Nou, gave Messi a standing ovation upon his
substitution, as his composure on the ball and passing combinations with
Ronaldinho had paid dividends for Barcelona.
Messi netted six goals in 17 league appearances, and scored one Champions League goal in six. His season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006, however, when he suffered a muscle tear in his right thigh during the second leg of the second round Champions League tie against
Chelsea.
Rijkaard's Barcelona ended the season as champions of Spain and Europe.
2006–07 season
Messi in a match against
Rangers in 2007
In the
2006–07 season, Messi established himself as a regular first team player, scoring 14 times in 26 matches.
On 12 November, in the game against
Real Zaragoza, Messi suffered a broken
metatarsal, ruling him out for three months.
Messi recuperated from his injury in Argentina, and his return to action came against
Racing Santander on 11 February,
where he came on as a second-half substitute. On 11 March,
El Clásico saw Messi in top form, scoring a
hat-trick to earn 10-man Barcelona a 3–3 draw,
equalising three times, with the final equaliser coming in
injury time.
In doing so he became the first player since
Iván Zamorano (for
Real Madrid in the 1994–95 season) to score a hat-trick in
El Clásico.
Messi is also the youngest player ever to have scored in this fixture. Towards the end of the season he began finding the net more often; 11 of his 14 league goals for the season came from the last 13 games.
Messi shortly before scoring a goal against Getafe
Messi also proved the "new Maradona" tag was not all hype, by nearly replicating Maradona's most famous goals in the space of the single season.
On 18 April 2007, he scored two goals during a
Copa del Rey semi-final against
Getafe, one of which was very similar to Maradona's
famous goal against
England at the
1986 World Cup in Mexico, known as the
Goal of the Century.
The world's sports press drew comparisons with Maradona, and the Spanish press labelled Messi as "Messidona".
He ran about the same distance, 62 metres (203 ft), beat the same number of players (six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran towards the corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21 years before.
In a press conference after the game, Messi's team-mate
Deco said: "It was the best goal I have ever seen in my life."
Against
Espanyol Messi also scored a goal which was remarkably similar to
Maradona's 'Hand of God' goal against England in the World Cup quarter-finals. Messi launched himself at the ball and connected with his hand to guide the ball past the goalkeeper
Carlos Kameni.
Despite protests by Espanyol players and replays showing it was clear
handball, the goal stood.
2007–08 season
Messi takes Barcelona to 2–0 against Sevilla at Camp Nou on 22 September 2007
During the
2007–08 season, Messi scored five goals in a week leading Barcelona to the top four in La Liga. On 19 September he scored once as Barcelona defeated
Lyon 3–0 at home in a
Champions League match.
He scored two goals against
Sevilla on 22 September
and then on 26 September, Messi scored another two goals in a 4–1 victory over
Real Zaragoza.
On 27 February, Messi played in his 100th official match for Barcelona against
Valencia.
Messi was nominated for a
FIFPro World XI Player Award under the category of Forward.
A poll conducted in the online edition of the Spanish newspaper
Marca had him as the best player in the world with 77 percent of the vote.
Columnists from Barcelona-based newspapers
El Mundo Deportivo and
Sport stated that the
Ballon d'Or should be given to Messi, a view supported by
Franz Beckenbauer.
Football personalities such as
Francesco Totti have declared that they consider Messi to be one of the current best footballers in the world.
Messi was sidelined for six weeks following an injury on 4 March when he suffered a muscle tear in his left thigh during a Champions League match against
Celtic. It was the fourth time in three seasons that Messi suffered this type of injury.
2008–09 season
Upon
Ronaldinho's departure from the club, Messi inherited his number 10 jersey.
On 1 October 2008, during a
Champions League match against
Shakhtar Donetsk, Messi scored two goals during the last seven minutes, after coming on as a substitute for
Thierry Henry, to turn a 1–0 deficit to a 2–1 victory for Barcelona.
The next league game was versus
Atlético Madrid, a match billed as a friendly battle between Messi and his good friend
Sergio Agüero.
Messi scored a goal from a free kick and assisted another as Barça went on to win the match 6–1.
Messi netted another impressive
brace against Sevilla scoring a volley from 23 metres (25 yd) and then
dribbling round the goalkeeper and scoring from a tight angle for the other.
On 13 December 2008, during the first Clásico of the season, Messi scored the second goal in Barcelona's 2–0 win over Real Madrid.
He was also named second in the
2008 FIFA World Player of the Year awards with 678 points.
Messi scored his first hat-trick of 2009 in a
Copa del Rey tie against Atlético Madrid which Barcelona won 3–1.
Messi scored another important double on 1 February 2009, coming on as a second half substitute to help Barcelona defeat Racing Santander 1–2 after being 1–0 down. The second of the two strikes was Barcelona's 5000th league goal.
In the 28th round of La Liga, Messi scored his 30th goal of the season in all competitions, helping his team to a 6–0 victory over
Málaga in the process.
On 8 April 2009, he scored twice against
Bayern Munich in the Champions League, setting a personal record of eight goals in the competition.
On 18 April, Messi notched his 20th league goal of the season in a 1–0 win at Getafe, allowing Barcelona to maintain their six-point advantage at the top of the league table over
Real Madrid.
As Barcelona's season was drawing to a close, Messi scored twice (his 35th and 36th goals in all competitions) to cap a 6–2 win over Real Madrid at the
Santiago Bernabéu in what was Real's heaviest defeat since 1930.
After scoring each goal, he ran towards the fans and the cameras lifting up his Barcelona jersey and showing another T-shirt that read
Síndrome X Fràgil, Catalan for
Fragile X Syndrome, to show his support for children who suffer from the affliction.
Messi was involved in the build-up to
Andrés Iniesta's injury time goal against
Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final to send Barcelona through to face
Manchester United in the
final. He won his first Copa del Rey on 13 May, scoring one goal and assisting another two, in a 4–1 victory over
Athletic Bilbao.
He helped his team win the double by winning La Liga. On 27 May he helped Barcelona win the Champions League by scoring a second goal in the 70th minute giving Barcelona a two goal lead; he also became the top scorer in the Champions League, the youngest in the tournament's history, with nine goals.
Messi also won the
UEFA Club Forward of the Year: and the
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year rounding off a spectacular year in Europe.
This victory meant Barcelona had won the Copa del Rey,
La Liga and Champions League in the one season,
and was the first time a Spanish club had ever won the
treble.
2009–10 season
"Once he's on the run, Messi is unstoppable. He's the only player who can change direction at such a pace." "He is the best player in the world by some distance. He's (like) a PlayStation. He can take advantage of every mistake we make."
After winning the
2009 UEFA Super Cup, Barcelona manager
Josep Guardiola asserted that Messi was probably the best player he had ever seen.
On 18 September, Messi signed a new contract with Barcelona, running until 2016 and with a buy-out clause of €250 million included, making Messi, along with
Zlatan Ibrahimović, the highest paid players in La Liga, with earnings of around €9.5 million yearly.
Four days later, on 22 September, Messi scored two goals and assisted another in Barça's 4–1 win over Racing Santander in La Liga.
He scored his first European goal of the season on 29 September in a 2–0 win over
Dynamo Kyiv,
and then took his goal tally to six goals in seven games in
La Liga with a strike during a 6–1 routing of
Real Zaragoza at
Camp Nou.
Messi was named winner of the
2009 Ballon d'Or on 1 December 2009, beating runner-up
Cristiano Ronaldo by largest ever margin of 473 to 233.
Afterwards,
France Football magazine quoted Messi as saying: "I dedicate it to my family. They were always present when I needed them and sometimes felt even stronger emotions than me."
On 19 December, Messi scored the winner in the final of the
2009 Club World Cup against
Estudiantes in
Abu Dhabi, giving the club their sixth title of the year.
Two days later, he was given the
FIFA World Player of the Year award; beating Cristiano Ronaldo,
Xavi,
Kaká and
Andrés Iniesta to the award. This was the first time he had won the award, and he became the first Argentinean to ever receive this honour.
On 10 January 2010, Messi scored his first
hat-trick in 2010 and his first hat-trick of the season against
Tenerife in the 0–5 victory,
and on 17 January he scored his 100th goal for the club in the 4–0 victory over
Sevilla.
Messi then started an impressive run scoring 11 goals in five games. First he scored on the 84th minute against
Málaga for a 2–1 win,
then he scored two goals against
Almería in a 2–2 tie.
He continued his spree with an impressive week where he scored eight goals; he started by scoring a hat-trick against
Valencia in a 3–0 home win,
then he scored two goals against
Stuttgart, in a 4–0 win that secured Barcelona's qualification to the quarterfinals of the
Champions League,
and finally he scored another hat-trick against
Zaragoza in a 4–2 away win,
becoming the first Barcelona player to score back-to-back hat-tricks in
La Liga.
He played his 200th official match for Barcelona against
Osasuna on 24 March 2010.
On 6 April 2010, for the first time in Messi's career he scored four goals in a single match, netting the lot in a 4–1 home win over
Arsenal in the
Champions League quarter-final second leg.
This also saw him overtake
Rivaldo as Barcelona's all time greatest scorer in the competition.
On 10 April, Messi scored his 40th goal of the season when he netted the first goal in a 2–0 away win against title-rivals Real Madrid in
El Clásico.
On 1 May, Messi played his 50th game of the season and scored two goals on a 4–1 away win against
Villarreal.
Just three days later, on 4 May, Messi scored two goals in another 4–1 win at home against
Tenerife.
Messi scored his 32nd goal of the
La Liga season on 8 May, during an away win against
Sevilla,
and in the final match against Valladolid, he scored two goals in the second half to tie
Ronaldo's club record of 34 goals in a single league season, set in
1996–97,
and to finish four goals behind the all-time record held by
Telmo Zarra.
He was named
La Liga player of the year for the second year in a row on 3 June 2010.
2010–11 season
On 21 August 2010, Messi scored a hat-trick in his first start of the season in a 4–0 victory over
Sevilla in the
Supercopa de España, helping Barcelona secure their first trophy of the season after a 1–3 first leg loss.
He also began his league season with a goal, scoring after just three minutes against
Racing Santander on 29 August 2010. He then continued his excellent form into the
UEFA Champions League group stage match against
Panathinaikos where he scored two goals, assisted another two and also hit the goal-frame on 2 separate occasions. He also missed a penalty, though. Barcelona won the match 5–1.
On 19 September 2010, Messi suffered an ankle injury due to an ill-advised tackle by
Atlético Madrid defender
Tomáš Ujfaluši in the 92nd minute of their Round 3 match at the
Vicente Calderón Stadium. At first sight it was feared that Messi suffered a broken ankle that could have kept the star player away from the pitch for a minimum of six months but MRI performed the next day in Barcelona showed he suffered a sprain in the internal and external ligaments of his right ankle.
Team-mate David Villa stated "the tackle on Messi was brutal" after watching the video of the play and also added that he believed the Atlético defender "didn't go into the tackle to hurt".
The incident caused widespread media attention and brought up the debate of equality in protecting all players in the game.
When he recovered he scored in a 1–1 tie against
Mallorca. He then scored another brace on the
UEFA Champions League against
København and helped the team to a 2–0 home win.
He continued his impressive scoring run with braces against Zaragoza and Sevilla. After a prolific October, he started November scoring on an away 1–1 tie against København and an away 3–1 win against
Getafe where he also assisted team-mates
David Villa and
Pedro Rodríguez.
In the next fixture against
Villareal, he scored an amazing goal combining with Pedro, which gave Barcelona a 2–1 lead. He scored another goal and Barcelona won 3–1. This was the 7th consecutive match in which Messi scored, breaking his own previous record of 6. He also achieved the feat of scoring 50 goals in the calender year of 2010 with the 1st goal, while with the second goal, he achieved the same feat again, this time considering the goals he scored wearing a Barcelona shirt in the year 2010. Against
Almería he scored his second hat-trick of the season in an impressive 8–0 away win, the second goal was his 100th
La Liga goal.
He scored on his ninth game in a row (10th including a friendly against Brazil) on a 3–0 away win against
Panathinaikos.
His goalscoring run ended on 29 November at
El Clásico but Barcelona still managed to win 5–0 with Messi assisting Villa twice.
The next match day he scored a brace and gave an assist against
Osasuna.
He followed with another brace against
Real Sociedad.
In
El Derbi, a match Barcelona won 1-5, he assisted teammates Pedro and Villa to score one goal each.
His first goal in 2011 came against
Deportivo La Coruña with a
free kick on a 4-0 away win, where he once again assisted both Pedro and Villa.
He won the
2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or, beating his Barcelona teammates Xavi and Iniesta.
Messi had been nominated for the awards for the fourth consecutive year.
Only two days after he won the award he scored his first hat-trick of the year and third of the season against
Real Betis.
He began the second round of the league with a goal, scoring his second penalty against
Racing Santander.
After scoring the penalty kick, Messi revealed a message on his undershirt that said, "Happy birthday, mami.".
He continued his goalscoring form with a brace against
Almería in the
Copa del Rey semifinal,
and followed it up with another brace less than a week later against
Hércules.
On 5 February, Barcelona broke the record for most consecutive league wins with 16 victories after they defeated Atlético Madrid 3–0 at the Camp Nou.
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to ensure the victory for his side and after the match he stated, "it's an honor to be able to pass a record set by a great like
Di Stéfano" and "if the record has been around for so long is because it's very complicated to achieve and we have reached it by defeating a very difficult team who's going through a bad situation, which makes it even more difficult.
Egypt
Colombia
Spain
Brazil
Nigeria
Côte d'Ivoire
Netherlands
Croatia
Serbia and Montenegro
Algeria
Peru
Mexico
Venezuela
Uruguay
France
