MADRID
Barcelona star Lionel Messi made his debut for the La Liga club 10 years ago today, the anniversary prompting widespread media coverage in Spain on Thursday.
Spanish newspapers Marca, El Mundo Deportivo and AS praised Barcelona's Argentine powerhouse. "Messi shattered almost all records. He is already at the same level with Pele, Diego Maradona, Alfredo Di Stefano and Johan Cruyff," Marca reported.
El Mundo Deportivo said that Messi is the game’s biggest trophy collector. “His house is a museum full of (individual) trophies as no other footballer will have,” the paper said.
"He's a hero for Barcelona," it added.
AS pointed out "Messi broke records no one could expect from him or imagine."
Spanish broadcaster TVE said: "The most optimistic ones were dreaming of a very powerful and promising kid but no one expected these achievements in [such] a short while. The Argentine kid will surpass many football legends such as Maradona or Pele."
- Award collector
A 17-year-old Messi made his debut on October 16, 2004 in a La Liga match against Espanyol after being subbed in 82nd minute. He has gone on to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or four times in a row, the European Golden Shoe three times and won Best Player of the 2014 World Cup. He has also been chosen as UEFA’s Best Player in Europe.
During his football career, the 27-year-old goal machine helped Barcelona win 21 trophies, including six La Liga titles, three UEFA Champions League titles, two Copa del Rey titles, two FIFA Club World Cups, two UEFA Super Cups and six Spanish Super Cups.
Regarded as the best footballer of all time at the Catalan club, Messi had his best season in 2011-12 when he scored 73 goals in 60 matches.
Scoring a total of 248 goals in La Liga, the Argentine national squad captain is aiming to beat La Liga's overall top scorer Telmo Zarra by scoring another four goals in the domestic league.
Among these achievements Messi has also been:
- Youngest player to win the Ballon d'Or award four times (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012)
- Most time European Golden Shoe winner (2010, 2012 and 2013 – sharing the title with Cristiano Ronaldo)
- Top scorer at Barcelona in the club's history (389 goals in total, including 361 in official games)
- Top scorer in the world in a year (91 goals in 2012)
- Top scorer in La Liga in one season (50 goals during the 2011-12 season)
- Top scorer in the world in one season (73 goals in the 2011-12 season)
- All-time top scorer in El Clasico history (21 goals)
- Most time ‘consecutive goal scorer’ in one La Liga season (21 consecutive matches in 2012-13 season)
- Most time top goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012)
- Top goalscorer in one Champions League match (5 goals during a game against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2011-12 season which ended 7-1)
- Most matches played at Barcelona as a foreign player (434 matches)
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