15 years since Lionel Messi's first official goal
May 1, 2005. Barça-Albacete, the 34th league match of the season, and a date recorded in the memory banks of many culers. That night, a 17 year old Leo Messi, wearing the No.30, scored his first senior goal and had another disallowed for offside. The Argentine began that evening his goal scoring career as a blaugrana after having made his debut in official competition under Frank Rijkaard the previous October in the derby against Espanyol.
Quality and goals in just four minutes
The Camp Nou looked forward to seeing Leo Messi in action. Rijkaard's team were winning 1-0 against Albacete when the Dutch coach decided Messi would replace Samuel Eto'o in the 87th minute. Just two minutes later the Argentine scored a great goal after a pass from Ronaldinho, however, it was ruled out for offside.
In the 91st minute, the Argentinian received another gem of a pass from the Brazilian, and this time his lob over goalkeeper Valbuena earned him his first senior goal. It was the first of an endless number, including the goal chosen by Barça fans as their best ever; against Getafe at the Camp Nou in the 2006/07 season.
627 goals in 15 years
In the 15 years that Messi has established himself as the best player in the world, he has scored 627 goals in official matches. This has helped him to win six Ballon d'Or, the Golden Shoe and the Pichichi awards, as well as prestigious prizes such as the Laureus Award for Best Sportsman of the Year 2019 - the first footballer to win this award - and many others. In 2019/20, Messi has already scored 19 goals and is currently leading the top scorers chart.
Approaching stratospheric records
Leo Messi is synonymous with quality, and the Argentine is approaching some spectacular records. In 2020, he reached more than 500 wins with the club and became the Barça player to have played the most Clásicos. The best player in the world is just 16 goals away from equalling Pelé as the greatest scorer in history for one team, and he has Xavi Hernández in his sights too. Currently the No.10 has played 718 times for Barça, with Xavi on 767. Not forgetting that he only needs to score another 69 goals to triple the amount scored by Barça's second highest all time scorer, César Rodríguez (232).
