🎥 Celebrating 15 years of Lionel Messi at Barcelona | OneFootball

We never really need an excuse to look back at some of Lionel Messi’s best ever moments – but today really is a special day in the history of the great man.

On November 16, 2003, the diminutive Argentinian made his debut for the Barcelona first team.

The Blaugrana went to Porto to officially open their Estádio do Dragão – which was newly-built for the upcoming European Championships in Portugal.

The floppy-haired 16-year-old came on in the second and showed some flashes of brilliance, but couldn’t stop Barça from losing 2-0 against José Mourinho’s men (remember him?)

15 years, 566 goals and 32 trophies later, Messi has gone on to become probably the greatest player in the game’s history.

And it all started in Porto.

So sit back, grab a drink and wallow in a selection of his ever moments in a Barcelona shirt.

Passing of the torch

A true passing of the mantle.

Barcelona’s talisman at the time – Ronaldinho – laid in Messi to score his debut goal in front of an adoring Camp Nou against Albacete.

The Maradona Goal

The comparisons were there right from the beginning.

Since a kid, Messi had always been labelled ‘The New Maradona’ – and then he went and did this.

Big games, big moments

Jérôme Boateng was widely considered one of the best defenders in the world back in 2013.

He’s never been the same since.

A classic in the Clásico

There have been so many goals against Real Madrid – 26 in fact – that it was hard to pick just one.

But this, in another Champions League semi-final at the height of their Pep vs José bitterness, really stands out.

History in Rome

Manchester United and Barcelona were comfortably the two best teams in Europe in 2009.

But the way Pep Guardiola’s side toyed with the English champions in the Champions League final that year was mesmeric.

Michael Carrick said it was like “being on a carousel” but no one guessed it would be Messi’s head that sealed the game.