A Decade of Messi Brilliance.

Today marks the ten year anniversary of Lionel Messi’s debut with FC Barcelona’s first team. For us Barça fans, that decade has left us in deep awe and admiration and hopeful of what else does Messi have left in his bag of tricks. Overall, his brilliance has been a rare blessing for this club that should be treasured forever.

A decade since Messi’s debut. Where do you start? The goals, success and honors on his Wikipedia page reads like page taken from an encyclopedia. Can you imagine how that will look like when he retires? Messi is only 27 and has many years ahead of him as long as he avoids injuries, stays in shape and avoids vices; something that affected other greats such as Marco van Basten, Ronaldo and George Best. Messi has had his early problems of injuries that he has gotten over thanks to change of diet, courtesy of Pep Guardiola, and better conditioning.

Messi’s genius has been on display ever since he came on the scene on this day ten years ago. FC Barcelona’s official website has a nice page with a timeline dedicated to Messi’s greatness. He seemed to be a quick winger which reminded me of Marc Overmars but his talent was too good and it was easy for Frank Rijkaard to put him in the starting lineup ahead of Guily back early into the 2004-2005 season. He was such an unknown that trading card companies mistakenly identified him as Luis Leonardo Messi as indicated in my FC Barcelona trading cards collection.

Nevertheless, that first aha moment where you saw something special in Messi varies among fans. Some were impressed in the Gamper Trofeo match against Juventus. Others, it was the memorable hat trick against Real Madrid in that 3-3 draw at the Camp Nou or the unforgettable Copa del Rey goal against Getafe reminiscent of Maradona’s goal against England that showed that this diamond in the rough was something special.

However, for me, it was the next goal he scored following his Real Madrid hat trick. It’s hard to believe that he had only scored less than 30 goals for both club and country at the time he scored that hat trick. For me, it was his goal against Recreativo that same season that made me think this was guy was something special. Don’t get me wrong, that performance against Real Madrid was superb and the passion in that game does usually bring out the best in everybody. However, the moment that showed me of things to come was his goal against Recreativo soon afterwards.

That goal showed early glimpses of his tenacity of winning the ball off a player near the opponent’s box and the ease in how he glided past players in a way you usually see in EA FIFA games. Back then, the EA FIFA games were not that realistic so it was easy for you to have a player dribble past numerous players with ease. For me, it was life imitating Electronic Arts and oddly enough, he’s now the face of those EA FIFA games. Since then, Messi has made those types of plays seem routine and look so easy and at the same time, mind blowing all at once. The goal he scored in the old San Mames stadium that basically won Barça their last league title in 2012-2013 is a perfect example of those goals we have seen from Messi and he did it again recently against Hong Kong a few days ago.

Since that debut ten years ago, Messi has written a new chapter in both Barça and football history books. He has amazed us and the neutrals and inspired many haters; a sure sign you’ve made it. He has done everything imaginable for both club and country. Gone are the days when people would say the next Maradona and I was surprised when I read a young player, Martin Odegaard, being called the “The Next Messi”. How times have changed and need I remind you again, he is only 27. The sky’s the limits for this amazing player who has made watching him represent club or country an event in other cities and countries.

So as we celebrate his decade of brilliance, Barça fans can only hope the club does not neglect this amazing player who has changed the club’s history. They must continue to build around him and ensure the team is led by him. They must ensure they hire the right type of people to coach him and most importantly, learn from their mistake with Pep Guardiola, and support him in every way imaginable. Messi has done everything for the club for the past 10 years and the least the club can do is ensure that this magical number 10 can remain with the club for another 5-10 years.