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16th Oct 2014

Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut 10 years ago today so here’s his career in numbers

You can't spell Messiah without Messi...

Paul Moore

You can’t spell Messiah without Messi…

There have been numerous times in JOE Towers when we have thought about starting a petition to have the word God renamed as Messi in the English dictionary.

The Barcelona legend made his club debut ten years ago today against Espanyol so we’ve decided to mark the occasion by taking a look at his career at the Nou Camp in numbers.

€385,000 – His weekly wage after tax at the club right now.

34,400 – The amount of fans that were in attendance at Montjuïc on October 16 in 2004 for the Catalan derby between Espanyol and FC Barcelona. It was Messi’s first game with the senior side.

371 – The record amount of goals for Barcelona he set after a hat-trick against Almeria this season smashed Paulino Alcantara’s previous record of 369.

91 – The amount of goals he scored in 2012, a world record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03nsdzLgNbo

82 – the minute that he was sprung from the bench against Espanyol on his debut.

77 minutes – The amount of time that Messi played for the first team in his debut 2004/05 season.

0:46 seconds – The duration of this lovely tribute from Vincent Enyeama ahead of his meeting with the Argentinian in the World Cup. Not quite Barcelona specific but still wonderful.

 

€56million – The amount of tax that he has to pay to the Spanish government.

30 – The number that Messi wore on his debut against Espanyol.

25– How old Messi was when he became the youngest player to score 200 goals in La Liga matches.

24 – The age that Messi became Barcelona’s all-time top scorer in official club competitions.

21 – The amount of goals he has scored against Real Madrid in his career so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8IZFmQwgFc

17 years, 3 months and 22 days – How old Messi was when he featured in his first match for Barcelona, he was the second-youngest player to ever don the Blaugrana colours for the first team.

13 – The year that he first arrived at the Nou Camp, take a look at his I.D card.

Messi Age

10 – His iconic jersey and as a class gesture he sent a copy to Gerd Muller signed “with respect and admiration”, after breaking his calendar year goal scoring record.

Messi-10

10 March, 2007 – Messi announces his incredible talent to the world with a stunning hat-trick against Real Madrid in an epic 3-3 Classico draw.

9 – The age he was during this briliant anecdote from Guillem Balague’s book about Messi, “On the Newells Old Boys pitch, the directors would ask him to do some keepy-uppies before the senior game or at half-time. On one occasion, in Mar del Plata, he did keepy-uppies before the game and fans would throw money at him. Fifteen minutes would go by and he still hadn’t lost control of the ball. He was nine.

7 and a half months – That’s how long it took Messi to score his first official goal for Barcelona after making his debut.

6 – La Liga titles won, the same amount of Getafe players that he beat to score this amazing goal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmm-xCq4To

It’s also the number of trophies that a Messi inspired Barcelona won during their grand slam 2007-08 season under Pep Guardiola.

5ft 7” – His height which hasn’t stopped the Argentinian genius from making fools out of some of the world’s best defenders.

4 – Goals against Arsenal in this Champions League knock-out match.

It’s the same number of reserve team players that were called up by Frank Rijkaard to complete the bench for Messi’s debut match against Espanyol.

4 – The number of FIFA/Ballons d’Or’s that he won consecutively.

Messi-4

3 – Champions League winners medals.

2 – Super Cups and Club World Cups.

1 – Lionel Messi, the greatest player of his generation who signed for Barcelona on this napkin.

Messi-napkin