Watch: Highlights of Lionel Messi's Barcelona B debut 10 years ago

Lionel Messi was 16 years old when he played his first game for Barcelona's B team. Lionel Messi (Denis Doyle/Getty Images) Before he was a Ballon d'Or winner

Liviu Bird | Mar 6, 2014

Watch: Highlights of Lionel Messi's Barcelona B debut 10 years ago /

Lionel Messi was 16 years old when he played his first game for Barcelona's B team. Lionel Messi (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

Before he was a Ballon d'Or winner and one of the best to ever play the game, Lionel Messi was just a kid. Exactly 10 years ago, at age 16, that kid played his first game with Barcelona B.

He had already played for the first team in a friendly at the time, and he displayed the same touch and unmatched dribbling ability that has shaped his reputation into what it is today.

In the 10 years since that debut in Mini Estadi against Mataró, which Barca B won, 1-0, Messi has won four Ballon d'Or trophies as the World Player of the year. The Argentine has also racked up six La Liga titles, three UEFA Champions Leagues, and two Club World Cups, scoring 379 goals in 487 appearances for club and country.

Watch highlights of Messi's Barça B debut — and his free-flowing hairstyle — below:

FC Barcelona

Published Mar 6, 2014

LIVIU BIRD

Liviu Bird is a soccer analyst with more than 20 years of experience in the game. He learned how to play in the streets of Romania before moving to the soccer wilderness of Fairbanks, Alaska, escaping to play collegiately as a goalkeeper at Highline Community College and Seattle Pacific University, where he also earned his B.A. in journalism. Bird played semiprofessionally and had tryouts at professional clubs but hung up his gloves in 2012 to focus on writing and coaching at the youth and collegiate levels. He joined Sports Illustrated in March 2013 as a freelance contributor and has also written for NBC Sports, Soccer Wire, The New York Times, American Soccer Now and the Telegraph (UK).