Juliano Belletti remembers how 16-year-old Lionel Messi embarrassed him in training

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Juliano Belletti has been talking about his first impressions of Lionel Messi and how the Argentinian embarrassed him in training when he was called up to join the first team as a 16-year-old.

The Brazilian admitted that Andres Iniesta warned him about Messi before he faced him during a training session under Frank Rijkaard and came out second best.

“When Messi came out of the B team, Frank Rijkaard put him in with us in an 11 against 11 on a small pitch,” he said.

”He was on the substitute team and I was with the starters.

”[Andres] Iniesta caught my attention and asked me if I knew him (Messi). I said no and he warned me: ‘Be careful, eh.’

”When he first got on the ball, I thought: ‘Damn! This kid is cheeky!’

”Then, when I was preparing to approach him and take the ball off him, he’d already gone past me and scored a goal. He ran right through me.”

Source | ESPN

Messi made his debut for the club as a 16-year-old in November 2003 in a pre-season friendly against Porto. He’s done OK since then...