Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Insider
MIAMI — It was the proudest moment of Lionel Messi’s young life. On August 17, 2005, the 18-year-old saw his first action as a member of the Argentina senior team.
There was already talk of Messi, the ridiculously talented child prodigy who was beginning to shine at Barcelona. The rumor was that he could be a legend in the making, perhaps even someone on the level of Diego Maradona, perhaps capable of one day winning a World Cup for the South American nation. Spoiler alert: he would take 17 more years, but it happened.
At the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest, Messi came onto the pitch in the 63rd minute of an international friendly match against Hungary, replacing Lisandro López. His shirt was too big, his hair fell to his shoulders, but he was ready for action. As play restarted, Messi found some space in midfield, picked up the ball, and headed in towards goal.
Less than two minutes later, he was leaving the field, sent off before his debut for the Argentina senior team could get off to a proper start.
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Hungarian defender Vilmos Vanczak later admitted that he had heard of Messi’s precociousness and did not wish to embarrass himself. So, as the teenager ran forward with the ball, Vanczak tugged aggressively on Messi’s jersey. That caused Messi to jerk back and his arm swung back hard, connecting with Vanczak just under the Hungarian player’s chin.
Referee Markus Merk was nearby and ruled that there was malicious intent. To say that it was a bad decision is to be nice to the official. But there it was, a red card, leaving an incredulous Messi walking heartbroken towards the bench as his teammates protested to the official.
Shortly after, he was reportedly found crying in the locker room. “It wasn’t like I dreamed it would be,” he told reporters. What a way to start his international career. Let’s just say things would get a little better from there.
Messi has not made many debuts. In fact, if, as expected, he takes the field for Inter Miami against Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup on Friday, it will be only the third club he has represented at the senior level. Naturally, he has only played for one senior team, the one from his homeland, which now considers him his favorite son, maybe ever.
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He moved to Barcelona’s youth academy at age 13 and stayed for more than two decades, before switching to French powerhouse Paris St. Germain for two seasons.
The small collection of opening acts he has had say something about him and have added to the Messi legend in different ways.
In his early years, the pressure of playing for his country was sometimes too much for Messi. The red card against Hungary was harsh, but it was still triggered by an unnecessarily hasty reaction.
“I loved him so much,” Messi would say later. “Maybe too bad.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona, despite all the associated pressure from Spain’s La Liga and the club’s large following, gave him a bit more freedom. His first appearance in senior Barcelona in an official match had been in October 2004, a Catalan derby against Espanyol.
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He played just seven minutes and his involvement was limited to mere flashes of skill, but the simple fact of how his debut came about was significant.
First-team players had already urged head coach Frank Rijkaard to promote Messi to the higher ranks based on his performances in training. Brazil icon Ronaldinho, firmly established as a legendary figure and arguably still the best player in the world, befriended Messi, anointed him as his successor, said the sky was the limit for the youngster and urged management to give him as much playing time as possible.
Before long, Messi was not just a starting starter, but the creative heartbeat of the team, a position he would never leave until he was gone all those years later.
“You could see it in him,” Ronaldinho told Brazil’s Globo television channel years later. “More than that, you could feel it.”
When Messi made the next move, his legend was cemented. In the summer of 2021, he and Barca parted ways with the club mired in financial crisis and limited in its ability to offer new contracts.
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Messi headed to France to play for Paris St. Germain and team up with Kylian Mbappe. Just like when he appeared in Miami, he had nothing left to prove as a player and therefore his impact was watched and analyzed in different ways.
Coming to the United States, he has been touted as the player who will propel Major League Soccer to a new level of international importance and further increase the growth of the game in this country.
When it landed in France, there were similar vibes. For all the power of France as an international team, Ligue 1 still lags behind the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, and Italy’s Serie A on the spectrum of global importance.
However, Messi’s first game for PSG was watched by 2.2 million viewers in Spain, compared to the 591,000 viewers who watched Barcelona play Getafe that same night. In other words, just the kind of impact that PSG and Ligue 1 were looking for.
Messi’s performance was just a glimpse: PSG already led Reims by the final score 2-0 when he came on after the 66th minute, both thanks to Mbappe. Mbappé passed up a hat-trick opportunity to try and set up Messi for a late debut goal, but both got in each other’s way. His most dangerous interjections came when he delivered cutup passes, and by the end even the Reims fans were on their feet to applaud him.
Messi did not always have an easy relationship with PSG, the perception is that there were times when he was not fully involved. However, he left having had a positive influence on French football, as highlighted by his dramatic entrance.
So what to expect on Friday? It seems likely that Messi will be restricted to a cameo from the substitute bench, given that he has had limited training and competition of late. What can be guaranteed is a sellout crowd, plenty of cameras, worldwide interest and a special night in MLS history. Beckham was quoted in the Argentine media as saying Messi might not play, although he has struck a much more positive tone in other media appearances.
“This is holy water,” shouted Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas as it poured with rain during Messi’s presentation. That might have been stretching the hyperbole, but the point was made, this is as much of a stir as could be made.
All debuts are remarkable in one way or another, but this is a different realm. Lionel Messi, the object of the world’s attention, all eyes are on you.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @mrogersfox and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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