Barcelona icon Lionel Messi has on Thursday taken to social media, to unveil a celebratory post.This comes to recognise the anniversary of his first-ever appearance in the colours of the

Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski have become the leading figures of Barcelona in the post-Lionel Messi era—but there’s still one key area where they fall short of the Argentine forward. Lionel Messi’s departure from Barcelona in the summer of 2021 marked a turning point in the club’s history.

Messi, who had pushed to leave the club one year earlier only to be denied by the previous regime, conducted a tearful farewell press conference announcing his exit. It has now been revealed that the legendary forward was unimpressed with the board’s conduct at that time.

In his Instagram story dated October 16, 2025, Lionel Messi shared an image from his Barcelona debut, which features him ready to get subbed on. He also shared the same post on his Instagram feed, alongside an image from his Barca days wearing the number 30 shirt. He wrote:

Now nearing the end of his professional career, Lionel Messi remains a global soccer superstar. Still, that hasn’t made him forget the beginning of his journey — his first appearance as a professional with Barcelona in La Liga.

The only player to break up Messi and Ronaldo’s Pichichi dominance was Luis Suarez, who was Barcelona’s top scorer ahead of Messi with 40 La Liga goals in 2015-16.

Lionel Messi took to social media to mark the anniversary of his professional debut with Barcelona, which took place on October 16, 2004.

Lionel Messi has been crowned the top scorer of the 2025 Major League Soccer season—an achievement he had already accomplished in other leagues. But how does that compare to Cristiano Ronaldo?

Nico Paz (Real Madrid-Argentina) – Made his senior international debut in October 2024 vs Bolivia assisting Messi in 6-0 win. Kendry Paez (Strasbourg/Chelsea-Ecuador) – One of South America’s brightest exports currently on loan in Ligue 1.