Argentine superstar Lionel Messi made his competitive debut for Barcelona on this day ten years ago. Here are some landmark dates in his career since:

-- October 16, 2004: Messi made his league debut for Barcelona against city rivals Espanyol. He was aged 17 years and 114 days and came on as a late substitute for Deco. "I will remember those 10 minutes my whole life," he said after.

-- May 1, 2005: His first competitive goal for Barcelona came against Albacete. This time Messi came on as an 87th minute replacement for Samuel Eto'o. He has now notched up 249 Spanish league goals for his club. Barcelona won the La Liga title the same month, the first of Messi's six league crowns so far.

-- August 17, 2005: Argentina fans could not wait for the protege to make his international debut, but it finished almost as quickly as it began. He came on as a second half substitute against Hungary, but was sent off within two minutes for elbowing an opponent.

-- March 1, 2006: Messi scored his first international goal in Argentina's 3-2 defeat of Croatia.

-- June 11, 2006: Messi played his first World Cup finals game as Argentina romped to a 6-0 first-round thrashing of Serbia and Montenegro. He bagged the final goal too and was the youngest scorer in the tournament in Germany.

-- July 7, 2007: At his first Copa America tournament, Messi starred alongside Hernan Crespo and Juan Roman Riquelme as Argentina stormed to the final. Messi scored in the quarter and semi-finals before Argentina fell 3-0 to Brazil in the final.

-- August 23, 2008: Barcelona tried to force Messi to forgo the chance to take part in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. But he insisted and provided the assist to Angel di Maria as Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 in the gold medal match before 89,000 people at the Beijing National Stadium -- better known as the Bird's Nest.

-- May 27, 2009: Messi was not on the team-sheet when Barcelona beat Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League final, but he still earned a winners' medal for taking part in the campaign. He scored the second goal as Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in Rome for his first real Champions League win.

-- December 1, 2009: Having come third then second in the two previous years, Messi was voted Ballon D'Or in 2009. It was the start of a record run of four straight triumphs in the contest. Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo managed to outdo him in 2013.

-- July 13, 2014: Heartbreak for Messi. The Argentine maestro scored and laid on priceless goals as he reached his first World Cup final. Messi had chances to score but it was Germany's Mario Goetze who got the extra-time goal that stole the game. Messi won the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.