The game where Messi cracked his shell in La Masía

With 21 goals in only 14 games at Infantil A, it came as no surprise that Barça wanted to upgrade him to a better side, which was Cadete B. Unfortunately, due to bureaucratic reasons, he wasn't allowed to play any official games in the team, but he was allowed to play friendlies. The most important friendly (and his most important game) that season was against Parma for the prestigious Coppa Maestrelli.

Before the tournament, Messi didn't use to talk with his other team-mates. That was until they arrived at the hotel and the team's four captains decided to play a prank on him, with Piqué taking everything out of his room to simulate a robbery. His only reaction was to put his hands on his head. Then the captains told Messi that it was something they always did to every new player.

Then, it was time to face Parma in the tournament. His first main action of the game was to dribble past a Parma player, make a good cross into the box and make an assist to one of his team-mates. After that, he received a ball a few meters off the box which, after getting past a player from Parma, shot into the goal, an attempt which was saved by the keeper. His next play was him running into the box, getting past an opponent and receiving a tackle inside the box.

Then, he made a good pressure play where he almost got the ball but ended up making a foul, and not long after, he scored a goal via header after a good cross from a free kick. Before the end of the first half, he put an opponent on the floor and he also made a key pass. In the second half, he made a key pass, got a shot blocked, and got a goal situation ruled out by the referee since he gave the foul he received shortly before. Then to wrap the game up, he made some more dribbles, and the game ended there, in a Barça win. Here is his performance on video:

He was the top scorer of the tournament and the best player as well. After that experience, and what happened in the hotel as well, he opened up a lot more, even cracking jokes, far different from before where he was very shy. It was evident that he had cracked his shell, not only as a player since he performed so well in an important tournament, but also as a person.

He was promoted to Cadete A next season, and he led his team to the best cadete side in their history, winning all their competitions and winning some games by large margins as well, so it helped in the long run as well. There were a lot of games that defined him as a player throughout his career, but this was perhaps the first major one, all the way back in La Masía.