On October 16, 2004, a young striker aged 17 years, three months and 22 days made his debut for Barcelona, who went by the name of Lionel Messi. 6 years later that footballer is the greatest in the history of the Barça club. With his departure, a player who has achieved 34 titles, has scored 634 goals, has played 731 matches, has added 513 victories and accumulates 80 Guinness records …
His official debut with Barcelona
Frank Rijkaard made Messi debut in an official match against Espanyol at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, on October 16, 2004. At seventeen years, three months, and twenty-two days. Barcelona won 0-1 and Messi played eight minutes. The Dutch coach was key in Messi's training, as Messi himself would recognize years later: “I remember when he didn't make me play and I would warm up. Today when I grow up I understand that it was the best thing for me and I will always be grateful to him ”.
His first official goal
He scored his first official goal against Albacete, on the thirty-fourth day of the league championship on May 1, 2005. At 17 years, 10 months and 7 days, he became the youngest player to score a goal in La Liga for Barcelona. Two years later, Bojan would take away that honor. It was Messi's only goal that season, in which he played a total of 77 minutes in 7 games. Messi remembers him with a special affection: “It was a play where Ronnie played and he put a great ball on me. When I had the opportunity, I saw that the goalkeeper was getting ahead a lot, that's why I placed it above ”, This is how Messi himself explained that historic goal.
The best goal in the history of Barcelona
A survey carried out by Barcelona among its fans concluded that the goal scored by Messi against Getafe in the 2006-07 Copa del Rey semifinals, It is the best in the history of the club. This poll, carried out for more than three months, gathered more than half a million votes. That Messi's goal received 45% of the votes.
Barcelona's top scorer
The Argentine has scored 634 goals in 731 games with the Barça shirt. On March 20, 2012 he became the Barça club's top scorer in history, by scoring three goals against Granada and reaching 234 goals, thus surpassing the record of 232 goals that César Rodríguez had since 1955. Messi's 634 goals have been distributed among 79 different rivals, with Sevilla, with 37, being his victim favorite.
Top scorer in the League
The Argentine has scored 444 goals in 485 league games. Since November 22, 2014 he has been the top scorer in the history of the league championship. That day he scored three goals for Sevilla and reached the figure of 253 goals, with which he surpassed Zarra, who to date had the honor of being the top scorer in the League, with 251.
Top scorer of the Classics
Messi has scored 26 goals for Madrid, being the top scorer in the history of the Classics. The white team is the fourth favorite rival of the Argentine. Only Sevilla (37), Atlético (32) and Valencia (28) have been beaten more times.
Top scorer in a season
In the 2011-12 season, Messi closed his historical record with 73 goals (in 60 games) in one campaign: 50 in the League, 14 in the Champions League, 3 in the Copa del Rey, 3 in the Spanish Super Cup, 1 in the European Super Cup and 2 in the Club World Cup. In 2012 he also achieved the record for the most goals in a natural year: 79 goals.
The goal of the Sextete
On December 19, 2009, Barcelona defeated Estudiantes de la Plata 2-1 in the Club World Cup final. The winning goal was scored by Messi in the final stretch of the match and that goal is one of the most important of Messi's career because it was the first and only treble in the history of Barcelona.
Player with the most titles in the history of Barcelona
Messi has celebrated 34 official titles with Barcelona, being the Barça footballer who has won the most competitions with the culé club. They are followed by Iniesta (32) and Pique (29). Messi's record with Barcelona is made up of 10 league titles (2004 / -05, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19), 4 Champions League (2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19), 6 King's Cups (2008-09, 2011-12, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18), 3 Club World Cups (2009-10, 2011-12 and 2015-16), 8 Spanish Super Cups (2005-06, 2006-07, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14, 2016-17 and 2018-19) and 3 European Super Cups (2009-10, 2011-12 and 2015-16).
513 victories in Spanish football
On January 30, Messi added his 500th victory and he became the first Spanish soccer player to reach that figure. They reached that milestone with a 5-0 cup win over Leganés. Messi has won 513 wins with Barcelona in 731 games
Six Ballon d'Or
In 2009 (aged 22), he became the youngest footballer to win the Ballon d'Or and the sixth Barça player to do so after Luis Suárez, Cruyff, Stoichkov, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. To that first award he has added five more (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019). No one in history has won more Ballons d'Or than him
Five Golden Boots
Messi is also the player who has won the Golden Boot the most times. He has won it up to five times (2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17 and 2017-18). His 50 goals with which he won the 2011-12 edition make him the trophy winner with the most goals. In addition, he is the only footballer who has been able to win this trophy three times in a row.
Six times Pichichi
He has been the top scorer in the Spanish League on six occasions (2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19), a milestone that no one has achieved.
The best Messi with Guardiola
Under Guardiola, Messi reached his best figures. With the Catalan coach on the bench, the Argentine played 219 games and scored 211 goals. By contrast, with Setién he has only scored 15 goals in 24 games, which is his lowest scoring average: 0.60 goals per game.
Six times top scorer in the Champions League
He is the only player to have won this trophy four consecutive seasons. His most prolific Champions League edition was 2011-12, in which he scored 14 goals. This trophy has been won in the editions of 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2014-15 and 2018-19).
And a thorn stuck: the record of games with Barça
Messi has played 710 games for Barça, but that figure has not been enough for him to become the player who has worn the Barcelona shirt the most times in an official match. The Argentine is far from the 767 games that Xavi played with Barcelona.