Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut a decade ago, on Oct. 16, 2004. I remember it well, sitting in the main stand at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium during a derby against Espanyol. Barca's No. 30 replaced Deco for the last eight minutes; Barca won 1-0. He sported a heavy fringe and wore a shirt that looked too big for him as it flapped in the wind of the exposed stadium atop the hill of Montjuic. Messi saw a lot of the ball, but not everyone was happy for him. His teammates in Barca B had hoped that their new star could play at local rivals Gramenet the following day. They did fine without Messi and won 3-1.
Messi is a more assured speaker now, although he's still quite inarticulate and shy. He was unable to go beyond clichés when describing his debut. Fine, he was a kid who would be judged by what he did on the pitch and not what he said to journalists. That remains true, and few footballers can articulate like Steve Coppell, once of Manchester United and England.
"It was beyond a fairy tale," reminisced Coppell when I asked him about his debut in 1975. "And despite winning trophies, that day was my highlight as a United player. My heart was jumping out of my chest and I've never had another experience like it. I wasn't running; I was floating across the grass. Words do not do the experience justice; it was a drug-like euphoric trance. I've had a few operations, and it was like that little pleasant stage after the anesthetic. Only multiplied by a hundred."
The sentiment behind Coppell's comments is true for many players. They may have won titles, caps and cups, but their first-team debut in the top flight remains the greatest moment of their career.
A current United player, Darren Fletcher, who made his debut in 2003, explained why.
"I think it's because of the sacrifice that you have put in your whole life to get to that stage. I didn't go out when I was a kid. I don't drink. My parents said: 'You have been given a great opportunity here, don't do anything which will affect it.' I'm not preaching that drinking is bad, for example, but for me I chose not to."
"You make a lot of sacrifices if you want to be a footballer," explains one recently retired Premier League player. "When your mates are discovering cigarettes and alcohol, getting into drugs and girls, trying student nights or watching students fight, you'll be on an A road to a training session or tucked up in bed.
"It's not only you who makes sacrifices. My parents effectively gave up their lives, which my siblings probably didn't appreciate. They both worked full time, yet most of their spare time was spent driving me around or watching me play. The financial burden was huge -- I'd estimate 5,000 pounds a year. I was involved in football four nights a week from the age of 13.
"There were boys from poorer families who simply couldn't commit to the massive undertaking required because their family couldn't afford it. Premier League clubs tend to have funds to help such cases, but lower down the chain it gets tighter and, given that the odds are stacked against any player 'making it,' you can see why many prospects simply give up. Loads of players fall by the wayside for various reasons, so when you finally pull on that first-team shirt it feels incredible."
Some players enjoy more memorable debuts than others. Northern Irish striker Sammy McIlroy made his Manchester United debut away at Manchester City in 1971.
"We usually played a reserve derby on the Friday night before real derbies," said McIlroy. "The reserve coach, Bill Foulkes, told me that I wasn't playing when I got to the ground. I was gutted. I loved playing against City. He told me to report for first-team duty tomorrow and to take a collar and a tie. I thought I was being dropped from the reserves so that I could carry the first-team kit."
McIlroy turned up the next morning, but had no idea he would be playing until four hours before kickoff.
"Frank O'Farrell, who had taken over from Matt Busby that summer, told me that I was in because Denis Law had failed a fitness test. He told me to enjoy myself and that he'd buy me a bottle of champagne if I scored. I never drank any alcohol, let alone champagne.
"The senior players encouraged me when we all went to Davyhulme Golf Club for our prematch meal. It was a fantastic game, 3-3," recalls McIlroy, who did score in his debut. "What a feeling that was to score in front of 63,000. Frank brought the champagne into training on Monday morning and I kept it for years."
Some players never make a professional debut; others enjoy several. Since March, Barcelona's Munir has made his debut for Barca B, Barca, Spain under-21 and Spain proper. Although only 18, he appeared unfazed as he went up and up.
Players remember their debut first and foremost, but also their separate debuts for each of the clubs they've played for. 50 years ago, Phil Chisnall was the last to transfer between United and Liverpool. Of his United debut at Everton away in 1961, he recalls: "We stopped for steak and chips before the game, then we lost 5-1. I kept my place in the side, though."
Chisnall was playing when George Best made his professional debut with United two years later. "I'd watched him beat players for fun in training," Chisnall says, "and wasn't surprised when he was called up."
Like Messi, Best lasted more than a decade at his club, Chisnall didn't. He moved to Liverpool, where his career didn't take off as planned. At least his debut was memorable. He was the first player to touch the ball in the first game of the season against Arsenal, an event captured for the first time by BBC cameras for their "Match of the Day" programme that recently celebrated 50 years of broadcasts.
"I thought nothing of the television thing at the time, but in later years I became an answer to a quiz question," recalled Chisnall. A difficult question, at that.
A question that asks for the name of the all-time top scorer in Spain football in years to come will be far easier. A decade after making his debut, Lionel Messi, with 249 league goals, is only two behind Telmo Zarra, the all-time leading scorer in the history of La Liga. And Messi is only 27.