Lionel Messi came to FC Barcelona at 13, joining the Spanish club’s youth academy, so the Paris Saint-Germain forward has grown up playing European football since he was a teenager.
The Argentine would spend 21 years of his career with the La Liga side, establishing himself as a superstar and arguably the greatest footballer of all time.
One of his former teammates, Cesc Fabregas, explained how Messi dazzled him and his Barcelona teammates during his first training session with the club as the PSG star stood out.
In an interview on the new BBC documentary “Messi,” Fabregas recalled what he thought of Messi after one training session.
“The first training session we had with Leo, I was playing a bit more of a defensive midfielder and we were doing this one-against-one exercise,” Fabregas said (h/t The Mirror).
“In my head, I’m thinking that I’m going to get the ball easy from him, because I like to go on the floor and I like to tackle, but then I was seeing that the speed was not normal. I was already shocked, because I remember falling on the floor. I lost ability and he scored.”
Messi made a club record 778 first-team appearances for Barca – 11 more than previous club captain and record-holder Xavi Hernandez.
Additionally, the Argentine would score 672 goals for the club, which is not only the loftiest figure but more than the second-highest scorer, third-highest and fourth-highest put together.
