Lionel Messi looked like a world-beater from the moment he pulled on a Barcelona jersey.

It might not have been until the 2008/09 season that Messi started to produce the numbers that saw him become a six-time Ballon d'Or winner, but the raw ability and talent was there from day one.

Besides, you only have to look at footage of Messi playing at La Masia to see that he was destined to become one of the greatest footballers of all time, tearing past defenders and scoring for fun.

Messi: The early years

Those immaculate performances in the youth teams eventually paved the way for his Barcelona debut in 2004/05 and he backed that up with Champions League glory the following season.

However, for our money, it was the 2006/07 campaign that saw the world-class ability from his first Barcelona appearance evolve into the embryo of an all-destroying footballing machine.

And it was his astonishing displays against Real Madrid in arguably the biggest fixture in the sport that convinced football fans that he was more than just Ronaldinho's understudy.

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Messi vs Real Madrid

Yes, his hat-trick against Los Blancos is his most iconic El Clasico performance that season, but make no mistake that he also played fantastically when Barcelona made the trip to the Bernabeu.

And that's no mean feat when you consider the Blaugrana were lining up against a Real team that ultimately won La Liga with the likes of David Beckham and Sergio Ramos in their squad.

In the end, the home side emerged victorious courtesy of goals from Raul and Ruud van Nistelrooy, but Messi still made his mark on the game by running Real's legendary defenders ragged.

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Messi vs Cannavaro and Carlos

Plying his trade on the right-wing in the Spanish capital, Messi found himself up against two of the greatest defenders of the modern era: Roberto Carlos and Fabio Cannavaro.

But despite the latter playing the best football of his life, winning the World Cup and Ballon d'Or that very same year, to say there was only one winner would be the mother of all understatements.

That might seem unlikely on paper, but it couldn't be any clearer in the footage, so be sure to check out 19-year-old Messi destroying some of his most iconic opponents down below:

Oh. My. Word.

Confidence beyond his years

It's almost surreal seeing a teenage footballer taking on elder statesman of the beautiful game and emerging as the winner so convincingly, even leaving Carlos on his backside in the first clip.

Yes, the Brazilian was past his best in 2006 and even world-class players like Cannavaro have their off days, but it's still astonishing to see how confident Messi was from such a young age. 

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Besides, there aren't many 19-year-old prodigies that I can think of who would go barrelling towards a Ballon d'Or winner and arguably the greatest left-back of all time quite like that.

To try is one thing, though; to success is a different thing entirely and one suspects that Cannavaro probably knew that when Messi passed him that night, he took the torch of the world's best player with him.