Remembering Lionel Messi's 1st Goal for Barcelona 10 Years on

Lionel Messi's rate of scoring for Barcelona and sheer amount of goals over the last decade is nothing short of world-class, but he had to begin that run somewhere.

On May 1, 2005, soon-to-be relegated Albacete were the visitors to Camp Nou and had lost 10 of their previous 11 fixtures, drawing the other, per Gol.com (Spanish).

The Catalans had been at the top of La Liga since Gameweek 6 of the season, a 1-0 victory over Numancia courtesy of a 70th-minute winner from Henrik Larsson. 

It's fair to suggest therefore, that a big score and a classic Barca attacking performance was expected. Why else would 91,174 turn up, per 11v11.com, against the league's bottom club.

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As can often be the case however, the complete opposite happened.

Albacete came with a plan to stop being beaten rather than to win and their ultra-defensive tactics were extremely frustrating for a team that included Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Deco.

Eight yellow cards split evenly between the sides gives some hint as to the fractious nature of the game and it would be 66 minutes before Eto'o opened the scoring, by which time the locals had clearly voiced their frustrations.

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Although this was a team that would eventually go on and win La Liga, they had been knocked out of the Champions League at Chelsea some seven weeks earlier and had Real Madrid still breathing down their necks in the league.

For a team that was so close to its first trophy in seven years, the frustration at not putting the game to bed early was clear.

Indeed, the game was still hanging in the balance when manager Frank Rijkaard made the decision to send on Messi in place of Eto'o.

The Cameroonian's displeasure was clear as he shrugged off the comforting arm of one of Rijkaard's backroom staff and stormed straight down the tunnel.

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As a 17-year-old Messi took to the field, the decibel level and anticipation lifted. Would this La Masia graduate whom everyone was excited about be the real deal? Would he even affect the game in the three minutes plus injury time that he had left?

The answer was an emphatic yes.

Within a minute and a half, he had scooped the ball into the net after Ronaldinho had somehow drawn five players to him before executing an inch-perfect pass to the young Argentine.

Only the linesman's flag would deny Messi on that occasion, TV replays showing how marginal the decision was. 

But Messi would not be denied.

A further minute and a half had passed and the game ticked over into injury time. Defenders Galvez Burgos Gaspar and Garcia Iniguez Agus had obviously not learned their lesson from 90 seconds earlier.

Drawn to Ronaldinho, the Brazilian expertly lifted the ball over the top to Messi. Allowing the ball to bounce once and give him time to set himself, Messi then side-footed the ball over Raul Valbuena who had come out to the edge of the six-yard box in an effort to head off the danger.

Camp Nou erupted. Part relief, part ecstasy.

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Messi was hoisted onto Ronaldinho's back and as they celebrated, many of the team circled round and joined the party.

And so began Messi's goal trail which doesn't look like ending any time soon.

Happy anniversary Leo!