Highlights

• Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut in a European encounter with Porto 20 years ago.
• Two of the men to represent the Spanish giants on that day went on to manage the club, both winning La Liga titles.
• In a heavily rotated team, many of the back-up players at the Nou Camp were given the opportunity to thrive, and it is interesting to see where they have landed two decades later.

Is there a player that better epitomises and encapsulates everything that makes the beautiful game beautiful better than Lionel Messi? Probably not. The little magician has achieved everything there is to achieve in the world of football, having come a long way since the beginning of his journey.

The Argentinean maestro has made all this 'elite football' malarkey look like an absolute doddle for two decades now, breaking every possible record there was to break in the process. Having signed for Barcelona at the tender age of 12, hopes were high for Messi, but no one could have predicted the beyond-stratospheric heights he would reach. Only four years after signing for the club, Messi was making his first team debut in a game against FC Porto.

Coming on in the dying stages of the game, Messi showed glimpses and flutters of what he was capable of and the rest, as they say, is history. It has now been 20 years since that scrawny, wide-eyed teenager took to the field and a lot has changed in the world of football. So that got us thinking, what became of his teammates from that day?

Well, we went back through the records to be able to answer that very question, and, in truth, it's a bit of an odd bunch.

Albert Jorquera

There is perhaps no one that played the part of understudy goalkeeper better than Albert Jorquera. He spent 15 years at the Camp Nou, averaging just over one and a half appearances per year, with 24. The shot-stopper was never able to break into the starting XI on a regular basis and would play second fiddle to Victor Valdes for the majority of his tenure with the club.

He retired from football at the age of 31 to join his family's jewellery business. He did return to the Catalan club in 2015, this time in the role of youth assistant manager and has gone on to have further coaching roles at Sion, the Andorra national team, and FC Santa Coloma. Jorquera is currently the assistant manager of Costa Brava.

Oscar Lopez

Another perennial understudy, Lopez struggled with injury throughout his career meaning he could never quite nail down a starting spot at Barcelona. He did come through the youth ranks at the club after joining all the way back in 1989 as a nine-year-old. The defender did make plenty of appearances for the Barcelona B and Barcelona C teams, but never quite cut it in the first-team squad.

Lopez joined Real Betis - where he had previously spent time on loan - in 2006 after leaving the Nou Camp on a permanent basis. A serious knee injury would limit the amount of appearances the right-back was able to make through the rest of his career. After taking a bit of a winding road, he is now back at Barcelona, where he works as coach in the youth ranks.

Oleguer

Oleguer is the first player on the list who can be considered a bona-fide Barcelona regular. The Spaniard was a much more prominent face at the heart of the defence for the club in comparison to Lopez and Jorquera, making well over 100 competitive appearances during his five-year stint with the first-team squad.

There was also a rather prosperous spell at Ajax in the Eredivisie from 2008 to 2011 after he left the Nou Camp having won two La Liga titles and a Champions League. Since retiring at the age of 31, Oleguer has become a political activist, campaigning for Catalan independence. He has had no involvement in the world of football in over a decade now.

Rafael Marquez

Now there's a name we recognise. Marquez was also in his debut season at Barcelona, but he would go on to become one of the first names on the team sheet at the club. The Mexican was brilliant at the back for the club, alongside Carles Puyol for the majority of his seven years playing at the Nou Camp.

Aongside Messi, Marquez would lift four La Liga trophies and also contributed to two Champions League triumphs - in 2006 and 2009. The defender played all the way until the age of 39, ending his playing days with Atlas. Following his retirement, he was introduced as Atlas' (his home club in Mexico) new sporting president, a role he held until 2019, and he now manages the Barcelona B side.

Fernando Navarro

Navarro would go on to enjoy the most successful period of his career at Sevilla, rather than Barcelona. His time with the Catalonian giants was spent as a bit-part player, with a vast array of talent to compete with to earn a place in the Barcelona back line. Navarro was a solid pair of hands that went on to have a respectable career elsewhere.

Loan spells at Albacete and Real Mallorca got his career on track, and he joined the latter on a permanent deal in 2006 before earning his big move to Sevilla two years later. He retired in 2018 after suffering relegation with Deportivo. That was his last involvement in football, over five years ago.

Xavi

One of Messi's favourite partners in crime. Xavi would spend most of his career setting Messi up with his unmatched vision and sorcerous touch. He was already an established member of the first-team squad by the time Messi joined him in the side and the Spanish maestro went on to become one of the greatest La Masia graduates in history.

Xavi announced that he would be leaving his boyhood club in 2015 after spending more than two decades with the club. He was unveiled as the new Barcelona boss in 2021 after a successful two years in charge of Al-Saad - the club he ended his career with, in 2019. He has been tasked with getting the famous Spanish club back on track following a difficult few years and has had a brilliant start after guiding his former club to become La Liga champions in the 2022/23 campaign.

Sergio Santamaria

The folks in Catalonia had high hopes for Santamaria after he won the Golden Ball and Player of the Tournament at the Under 17 World Cup in 1997 ahead of the likes of Ronaldinho. Sadly, he would never live up to his billing, lurching about in the Spanish lower leagues before cutting his career short due to injuries.

Along with Lopez and Jorquera, Santamaria was never able to nail down a first-team place for any significant period of time and was eventually deemed surplus to requirements in 2005, when he was moved out to Albacete on a permanent deal after having spells out on loan before that. The midfielder retired from football in 2011 and hasn't been seen involved in football since.

Ramon Ros

Possibly the most obscure of the lot, Ramon Ros made one solitary La Liga appearance for Barca. He was brutally forced to retire from the game at the age of only 26 after injuries decimated his career. He was originally signed from Gava as a teenager in the 2000/01 season and went on to the Barcelona C team before moving up to the B team only a year later.

Ros never fully graduated from the Barcelona B side to the first team, but was called up on sporadic occasions to be part of the squad. Not much else can be said about the former midfielder's career as his time in the sport was brought to an end in 2007 due to the aforementioned injury issues.

Gabri

Another more recognisable figure, Gabri made 200 appearances for Barcelona before moving on to Ajax in 2006 - he even managed to win two titles and the Champions League. His spell in the Netherlands wasn't quite as fruitful as he failed to win the league title, despite Ajax being the biggest club in the country.

Gabri went into management - in a similar vein to others from this XI - as he took over as the manager of Spanish side Club Lleida Esportiu in 2021 following spells at the helm of Sion and FC Andorra. The Spaniard's most recent job was with Nantong Zhiyun in China for a brief period in 2023.

Luis Garcia

It's an often-forgotten fact that Messi and Liverpool legend Garcia played together. This was during his second spell at the Nou Camp after having moved to Atlético Madrid for the 2002/03 season before re-joining Barca. He enjoyed his headiest times on Merseyside after joining Liverpool in 2004. Garcia played in one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history in 2005 as the Reds came back from 3-0 down at half-time of the final against AC Milan to win on penalties.

He now works as a football pundit and analyst, mostly for ESPN, following moving around various Spanish clubs after his time in England came to an end in 2007 after this time losing in a Champions League final against AC Milan. Garcia rounded off his career in Australia with Central Coast Mariners.

Luis Enrique

It would be completely misguided to say that Enrique enjoyed a more successful career in football since calling time on his playing days. The forward is one of very few players to have lifted a La Liga title for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, achieving these feats in the 1990s. Enrique was coming to the end of his playing days when Messi's debut rolled around, but the pair's paths would cross again in the future.

He would go on to manage Messi in one of the best Barcelona teams ever crafted and even managed to win the league title as a manager after having done so as a player. Enrique's next port of call would be with the Spanish national side, and he is now the manager of Messi's former club -Paris Saint-Germain.

READ MORE: Ten Hag, Klopp, Guardiola: Algorithm names the world's best manager

Watch: Lionel Messi makes Barcelona debut