Ahead of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal against Albacete, FC Barcelona jogged back fan memories towards Lionel Messi’s first professional goal against the same team. The 2005 goal when Messi was just 17 years old, was a moment of singular joy, combining with the other gleeful legend of yore, Ronaldinho.
Marca described the clip put on Instagram by the club, showing a young Messi making a well-timed run behind the defense before receiving a perfectly weighted pass from Ronaldinho.
‘With remarkable composure for a teenager, Messi lifted a delicate chip over the goalkeeper and into the net, giving an early glimpse of the touch, awareness and confidence that would later define his career, a legendary one with the LaLiga powerhouse,’ Marca wrote.
It ends with Messi joyously piggybacking a beaming Ronaldinho to celebrate what turned out to be the most illustrious club career. Barcelona’s post quickly accumulated resonating likes and shares from fans, who reminisced on the Dinho- magic which was the first glimpse of his greatness.
Barcelona are playing Albacete Balompie for the first time since that game 21 years ago in a single-leg tie at the Carlos Belmonte on Tuesday night. Messi since that goal went on to become a global legend, also the club’s top scorer helping them win numerous club and international titles and reaching greatness, with player and club still tied in, in fan memories. He now plays in the States, and Barca have settled into carrying on with Lamine Yamal, who the stadia chant for and who expressed his desire to forever be at the club.
But the lure of 2005 with two magicians combining, got fans waxing eloquent not just about the Messi goal but also Ronaldinho’s easy genius.
It even led to an intense discussion on Reddit on how the exact same Brazilian lob and chip shot was ruled offside just moments prior to the goal.
While there’s wishful thinking galore on how Messi should spend a few last months turning out for Barca, all over again, three months back, he told SPORT, “Honestly, I really miss those moments (at Barça). Maybe I enjoy them more now than I did back then because of the day to day whirlwind of back to back matches then. Now, seeing it all calmly after more than two years, I relive those memories in a deeper and more beautiful way.” It sent fans into delirium, and the latest love-note from official social handles, once more got fans watching his first ever pro goal on loop.
Albacete is currently 12th in the second division Segunda, and Hansi Flick chuckled about how he loved these unpredictable matchups in Copa. Albacete briefly played in the Top tier from 2002-3 to 2005, before dropping off again. And in 2011, it needed Andres Iniesta whose boyhood club it was, to donate 420,000 euros to rescue the cash strapped club.
Albacete reached quarters beating Real Madrid 3-2 in Round of 16 when Jefte Betancor Sanchez, born in Canaries and of Malaysian descent, scored 2 to give the unfancied side a shock win.
What Albacete also managed to do was send Barca fans on a nostalgia trip to Messi’s first ever goal.
