On Christmas Day, FC Barcelona gifted us with an incredible new video. The famous soccer club took a moment to unearth old footage of their franchise superstar, Lionel Messi – showing clips of him dominating various youth leagues. The highlight reel plays out like a video game, with Messi dancing around defenders, finessing set plays, and bending beautiful shots into the net. As fans of the sport know, the Argentinian is arguably one of the greatest to ever play the game, and this classic footage does very well to prove the notion.
As with many future stars, Leo Messi was scouted by a pro club when he was still an adolescent. He eventually joined Barcelona’s famed youth academy, La Masia in 2004. Prior to this big move, he made his mark in Argentina, playing for Newell’s Old Boys in 2001. In this new compilation, you can see a childlike Messi glowing about in-game results, including an incredible five-goal performance. All of the footage is a precursor to the player’s current success. You can watch it all below, via Barcelona’s official YouTube channel.
