There are probably a lot of people here who don't even remember first being mesmerized by Messi. I guess I am somewhat fortunate in that it happened recently that I "discovered" him. I mean, I don't leave under a rock at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, so I had certainly seen him before, but I didn't follow La Liga and just thought "hey that guy's good, he sure scores a lot of goals."
Ironically, the game that made me stand up and pay attention is probably one he feels is one of his worst, the World Cup semi-final against the Netherlands (my team). As soon as Messi walked up to take that penalty my blood turned to ice -- the way he did it, so confident, bang it was in and he jogged back to the line like it was a penalty he takes everyday. It was so well done and set the tone for the whole team. I don't need to tell you how things turned out for the Netherlands on that one.
After that game, and watching him fight so hard in the final, I reflected on his other games from the WC (which I have to watch because my SO is from Argentina and we would not be able to hold conversations during the cup if we don't watch each other's games with some degree of attention), and saw what he did for that the team, the same he does for Barcelona1. I saw how he adjusted his game from striker to playmaker and back, as it was needed based on opponent and how each match was going. I saw him drag that team through match after match. Now, Barcelona is not as weighty as the Argentine NT was, but I see him do that game-in game-out, and it just amazes me.
His coach from the Juvenil A tells a story of when Rijkaard came to him for some young players to for a friendly against Porto. So many players were injured that they didn't even have enough replacements from Barça B and even Barça C, and the coach recommended Messi. Rijkaard asked "what position does he play?" And the coach said "all of them."2
1 - Somewhere in there I also read Messi is Impossible, which also put me onto the fact that this guy might be something extra special. I can't imagine any of you have missed, but if you have, it's a must read.
2 - Of course, the rest is history, according to this coach Rijkaard said Messi was the best player on the pitch that day, though he only played 16 minutes. Messi was promoted to Barça C a few weeks later.