Lionel Messi turns 28 today, and Barcelona have just released this previously unseen footage of him playing for their junior side.
As you can probably imagine, the Argentina star, currently representing his country at the Copa America, was better back then than any of us are now.
The defence-splitting throughballs are there, of course, as well as the ability to leave his marker dumbfounded with a single touch.
But there’s one added feature we don’t see too much of these days — a Messi bullet-header into the top corner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMq88usUaEo
