Lionel Messi may have left Barcelona to spend the 2021-22 season winning Ligue 1 with PSG, but he remains Barca’s defining player of the modern era – to the point where it’s difficult to remember a time before the enormous impact he had on the club.
But such a time did exist, coming to an end when Messi made his first appearance in the Blaugrana shirt on October 16 2004.
Barcelona’s last game before the Messi era officially began was a 1-0 win over CD Numancia a couple of weeks prior to that debut and we’ve taken a look at that Xl.
GK: Victor Valdes
After coming through the Barcelona academy, Valdes managed to cement his position as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper before Messi’s debut.
He made 43 appearances in all competitions in 2004-05 and won his first Zamora Trophy, awarded to the goalkeeper with the lowest goals-to-games ratio in La Liga.
RB: Juliano Belletti
Belletti joined Barcelona from Villarreal in 2004 and was immediately impressed by a young Lionel Messi during a training session.
“When Messi came out of the B team, Frank Rijkaard put him in with us in an 11 against 11 on a small pitch,” Belletti told ESPN in April 2020.
“He was on the substitute team and I was with the starters. Iniesta caught my attention and asked me if I knew him. I said no and he warned me: ‘Be careful, eh.’
“When he first got on the ball, I thought: ‘Damn! This kid is cheeky.’ Then, when I was preparing to approach him and take the ball off him, he’d already gone past me and scored a goal. He ran right through me.”
The right-back famously scored the winning goal in the 2006 Champions League final but was sold to Chelsea 12 months later.
🟡 Campbell 37’
🔵🔴 Eto’o 76’
🔵🔴 Belletti 80’#OnThisDay in 2006, Barcelona came from behind to beat Arsenal and win the Champions League 🏆pic.twitter.com/IujZUe2mEJ— Goal (@goal) May 17, 2020
CB: Rafael Marquez
Marquez had signed for Barcelona in the previous season and the defender soon became aware of the hype around Messi.
“We were already hearing about Leo in the dressing room,” Marquez told Fox Sports in 2019.
“[We heard that] he was smashing it at Barcelona B and that he was the new [Diego] Maradona. It was spectacular to see him grow from so close.”
The Mexico international played alongside Messi for six seasons before he was released from his contract in 2010.
CB: Carles Puyol
Puyol was named club captain ahead of the 2004-05 season…
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