THE FIRST TIME FFT SAW MESSI PLAY

“The evening of August 24, 2005 was humid and close in Catalonia, the sort of late-summer heat which clings to your clothes and infects your flat, regardless of whether or not your air conditioning works. Ours did not.

I had only been living in Lleida – a provincial city two-and-a-half hours inland from Barcelona – for three days, but I already knew the only escape was to walk to the nearest bar. To my delight, Barcelona were about to play Juventus in the prestige Joan Gamper pre-season friendly.

Watching a small wall-bracketed TV that night, I fell in love. On Barcelona’s right wing was this little kid sporting a Beatle haircut.

First he embarrassed Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Pessotto with the same Cruyff turn. Next came a chest-high assault from Mauro Camoranesi. Then the youngster pushed Patrick Vieira off the ball and turned him inside out. All the French World Cup winner could manage in response was a thwack to the ankles. Yellow card.

By now, the bar had fallen silent. This kid was unstoppable. This kid was an absolute genius. This kid was an 18-year-old Lionel Messi and this was his first start at the Camp Nou.

He’d made a handful of first-team appearances in the previous season, even scoring, but this was different. These were World Cup winners past and future, and this kid was making them look stupid.

With 10 minutes to go, the Camp Nou rose to sing, ‘Messi! Messi! Messi!’ in honour of football’s next big thing. Nearly 100 miles away, a handful of sweaty Spaniards and a 20-year-old Brit did the same. We felt part of it.

We were watching history. We were watching the birth of the best player of his generation.” Andrew Murray