Lionel Messi has certainly enjoyed playing against Real Madrid throughout his wonderful career.

In his 44 appearances against Los Blancos in all competitions, the Barcelona legend has scored 26 goals, more than any other player in El Clasico history.

The Argentine thrives against Real Madrid and he'll be hoping to torment them once again in the latest instalment of the iconic fixture on Saturday evening.

Messi's first appearance in club football's biggest game actually came over 15 years ago - yes, we feel old too.

At the age of just 18, the diminutive forward was named in Frank Rjikaard's starting XI for Barcelona's trip to the Bernabeu on November 19th, 2005.

The Blaugrana won 3-0 and it's a game remembered mostly for Ronaldinho's genius, with the Brazilian receiving a standing ovation from the Real Madrid fans in the stadium.

But Messi was pretty darn good as well, with the teenage forward more than holding his own against Real Madrid's array of 'Galacticos'.

Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Raul Gonzalez and Robinho were all upstaged by the Argentine.

You can watch Messi's brilliant individual highlights from the game below.

Video

Unreal stuff from Leo.

Messi provided the assist for Samuel Eto'o's opening goal for Barcelona and was a constant thorn in Real Madrid's side.

At 1:46 in the video above, the Argentine is sent tumbling to the turf by a cynical challenge from Zidane, with the Frenchman bizarrely not receiving a booking for the offence.

Messi was simply too good for him that day and that's also been the case on many occasions during Zidane's time as manager of Real Madrid.

You'd think the Los Blancos boss would want to see the back of Messi, but in his pre-El Clasico press conference, Zidane made it clear that he wants the Argentine to stay at Barcelona.

"I don't want it to be Messi's last Clasico," Zidane said, per Marca. "Let him stay, let him stay at Barcelona. He's good there. It's good for LaLiga if he stays."

Fair play Zinedine.