For many players, their first Champions League strike can be a real 'star is born' moment as they announce themselves on the European stage.
Lionel Messi however, was already causing quite the stir prior to his first goal in club football's most coveted competition.
The baby-faced teenage Argentine had only made 17 appearances for Barcelona before he notched his first Champions League goal against Panathinaikos - making the fact many already knew he would become a star all the more impressive.
Such was Barca coach Carles Rexach's certainty that Messi was a prodigious talent, he infamously ensured Messi signed a napkin due to having no other paper at hand and was desperate to make him sign some form of contract.
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With his first La Liga goal coming at the tail-end of the season prior against Albacete in May, much of the Camp Nou faithful were on high alert over Messi - a dainty, short figure seemingly destined for greatness.
Six months after he registered his first goal in the famous blue and red shirt, Panathinaikos became Messi's first victims from elsewhere on the continent.
Enjoying just his sixth start for the club, Messi proved too hot for the Greeks to handle all evening as Frank Rijkaard's side ran riot at the Camp Nou - putting five past the Super League Greece outfit with no reply.
It was to be an easy night's work for the Catalan giants as Mark van Bommel opened the scoring within the first 60 seconds, before Samuel Eto'o doubled the host's lead soon after.
Messi's moment came soon after, the teenager capitalising on some shoddy defending to eventually prod home and put the result beyond any doubt.
Though the goal appeared scruffy at first, there is a hint of what we would all go on to recognise as 'vintage Messi' in there, as he delicately lofted the ball over the onrushing keeper's head at pace before poking the ball into the net.
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Eto'o would steal the headlines that night as he scored another two to secure his hat-trick, Barcelona going on to win the entire tournament after beating Arsenal 2-1 in a rain-sodden Paris-based final.
Everyone in attendance against Panathinaikos may have known they were witnessing a special talent, but few could have predicted the heights Messi would go on to reach in the colours of Barca.
Dissecting his Champions League heroics alone, that goal 16 years ago was the first of 123 and counting he would notch in the competition - of which he has won four times in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015.
Having gifted the Camp Nou faithful some of the best memories they could have ever hoped for, both domestically and in Europe - it is a cruel twist of fate Messi never received the send-off his genius deserved.
While the fairytale ending of Messi's Barcelona career would have been proudly holding the Champions League aloft in front of his adoring fans, his goodbye was instead confined to a small meeting room inside the Camp Nou in front of his friends, family and teammates.
Shortly after, the Argentine confirmed his switch to French giants Paris Saint-Germain - where his affinity with the Champions League has continued, as his first and only three goals for the Parisian outfit have come in Europe.
