On November 16, 2003, a very young player named Leo Messi, just 16 years old, made his debut with the first team in a friendly against Porto, in the inauguration of the Estadio do Dragao. The player trained at La Masia made his debut under the orders of Rijkaard in the 71st minute, replacing Fernando Navarro. Today, 22 years later, Barcelona has remembered that moment with several publications on social networks and with a clear message: “Here began the legend. The first day of Messi with the first team of Barca“.
The Catalan club has posted a publication with several videos of the Argentine, with goals, great moments and titles, and his first statements after the friendly. “Everything was very nice because there were many players with a lot of experience like Luis Enrique, Xavi, Marquez and playing alongside them was very good,” said Leo Messi
The anniversary comes at the end of a week in which the Argentine has been at the centre of Barcelona’s news. On Monday, a night-time visit by the Argentine to the Spotify Camp Nou came to light, of which Barcelona had news when it saw the photographs published on the footballer’s social networks. However, the club made it very clear that the Argentine was always welcome at the Les Corts stadium. We also heard from the player himself and Joan Laporta.
The president, who said a few days ago that he would like Messi’s tribute match to be with the Spotify Camp Nou completely finished, also made it clear that he does not regret anything that happened with the Argentine in the summer of 2021.
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