Description: On August 4, Jos¨¦ Pekerman called him up to the senior Argentine national team. He made his debut against Hungary ¡ª coincientally the very same side that Maradona debuted against for Argentina. However, he only played for three minutes of the game, being shown a red card and making him leave the field in his first attempt on goal. Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on September 25 and was finally able to make his debut in this season's Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non-EU players. Messi's first outing in the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp was on...     ( +expand to view full text )

Description: On August 4, Jos¨¦ Pekerman called him up to the senior Argentine national team. He made his debut against Hungary ¡ª coincientally the very same side that Maradona debuted against for Argentina. However, he only played for three minutes of the game, being shown a red card and making him leave the field in his first attempt on goal. Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on September 25 and was finally able to make his debut in this season's Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non-EU players. Messi's first outing in the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp was on September 28 against the Italian club Udinese. He impressed with some great passing and a seemingly telepathic relationship with Ronaldinho that earned him a standing ovation from the 70,000-odd Nou Camp faithful. On December of that year, the Italian newspaper Tuttosport awarded him the Golden Boy 2005 title for the best under-21 player in Europe, ahead of Wayne Rooney and Lukas Podolski.