when did messi started playing for barca first team
Lionel Messi During the 2003–04 season, his fourth with Barcelona, Messi rapidly progressed through the club's ranks, debuting for a record five teams in a single campaign. After being named player of the tournament in four international pre-season competitions with the Juveniles B, he played only one official match with the team before being promoted to the Juveniles A, where he scored 18 goals in 11 league games.[30][31] Messi was then one of several youth players called up to strengthen a depleted first team during the international break. French Winger Ludovic Giuly explained how a teenage Leo caught the eye in a training session with Frank Rijkaard's first team: "He destroyed us all... They were kicking him all over the place to avoid being ridiculed by this kid, he just got up and kept on playing. He would dribble past four players and score a goal. Even the team's starting centre-backs were nervous. He was an alien."[32] At 16 years, four months, and 23 days old, he made his first team debut when he came on in the 75th minute during a friendly against José Mourinho's Porto on 16 November 2003.[21][33] His performance, creating two chances and a shot on goal, impressed the technical staff, and he subsequently began training daily with the club's reserve side, Barcelona B, as well as weekly with the first team.[34] After his first training session with the senior squad, Barça's new star player, Ronaldinho, told his teammates that he believed the 16-year-old would become an even better player than himself.[35] Ronaldinho soon befriended Messi, whom he called "little brother", which greatly eased his transition into the first team.[36][37]
Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi[note 1] (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈðɾeθ ˈmesi] ( listen); born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and regarded by many as the greatest of all time, Messi is the only player in history to win five FIFA Ballon d'Or awards,[note 2] four of which he won consecutively, and a record-tying four European Golden Shoes.[note 3] He has won 29 trophies with Barcelona, including eight La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles, and five Copas del Rey. Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most official goals scored in La Liga (360), a La Liga season (50) and a club football season in Europe (73), a calendar year (91), as well as those for most assists made in La Liga (139) and the Copa América (11). He has scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country.