On 16 October 2004, a 17-year-old Lionel Messi made his competitive debut for Barcelona, coming off the bench in a 1-0 victory over Espanyol.
Wearing the No 30 shirt, Messi replaced goalscorer Deco in the 82nd minute at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Those eight minutes marked the beginning of an extraordinary career at Barcelona, where the Argentine would go on to score 672 goals in 778 appearances.
During his 17 seasons with the Catalan giants, Messi won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League trophies and seven Copa del Rey titles, establishing himself as one of football’s greatest players.
