Seventeen years ago today, Lionel Andres Messi scored his first goal in the famous red and blue colours of Barcelona.
On 1 May 2005, a 17-year-old Messi, with his long locks and babyface, replaced Samuel Eto'o in the La Liga fixture against Albacete and went on to become the club's youngest ever goalscorer.
Messi soon had the ball in the back of the net after entering the fray later on, having been fed through by a typically filthy scooped through ball from Ronaldinho. However, the goal was incorrectly chalked off.
But Messi did not dwell on it in the slightest. Moments later, he scored pretty much the exact same goal, again assisted by R10, Barca's talisman.
Advert
This time the linesman kept his flag down and the kid from Rosario was off the mark for the Blaugrana.
It was a proper 'passing of the torch' moment - and it's fair to say that Messi has carried that torch with distinction and surpassed Ronaldinho, who openly admitted that the Argentine would go on to surpass him.
After opening his account with a glorious lob, Messi would go on to score a further 672 goals for Barcelona before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
Advert
He has found goals much harder to come by in his first season in French football.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has managed just nine in his 31 games for PSG this season.
His former Barcelona teammate Dani Alves, who returned to the Nou Camp himself in December, has urged Messi to rejoin his former club.
Advert
"I don't know what he thinks or wants to do. He could come back for a little year with me for a 'last dance'," Alves told Diario Sport.
"Why not? There's nowhere better than here. We cannot be better off than at Barca. He left and tried the experience.
"It's time to return home if he wants."
Topics: Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Football, La Liga
Josh Lawless