The day that Messi made his debut in front of Mourinho

16th November is a very special day for Leo Messi. Nine years ago the Argentine footballer made his first-team debut for Barcelona... against José Mourinho. Messi played in a friendly against FC Porto that day in 2003, at the opening game in the Estadio do Dragao.
Frank Rijkaard decided to bring on the young Messi in the 75th minutes in place of Fernando Navarro and in the fifteen minutes he played, he had two chances to score.
Messi was 16 years old and was playing in Barcelona's under-18 first team. Xavi Hernández is another surviving member of that game in the current squad.
The following day, Leo Messi told Barça TV how he'd felt on his debut. The Argentine said he was very happy to have realised his dream of debuting with the first team and that he wanted more opportunities to play under Frank Rijkaard.
Very few people could have suspected then, that today, nine years later, Leo Messi would have become the best player in the world and one of the all-time greats, at only 25 years old. He's been awarded the Ballon d'Or three times and might just receive it for a record fourth time on 7th January.