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Alen Halilovic is highly touted as the next great Barcelona footballer, and his style has earned a comparison with Lionel Messi. The two were together for the Blaugrana debut at Camp Nou in the 3-0 Joan Gamper Trophy win. They both played, but Messi was already on the bench before the Croatian wonderkid entered the pitch for the game's final minutes.
Still looking for a competitive place to develop instead of a lesser league like the third division that Barça B will be on next season, Halilovic is likely to be loaned to get more experience, and a La Liga team seems like his possible destination.
Before leaving the club for a while, the 19-year-old took an amazing photo with his idol in the Camp Nou dressing room, and this thing is just gold:
Look at his face alongside Messi. There's no way one could be more star-struck. His message his also perfect:
First game for Barcelona at Camp Nou, as part of the team, with the best player in history of football!!! I wanna thank everyone who was there for me to support me and believe in me, my family and friends. My lifetime dream came true, I played in front of 98000 people at Camp Nou! I am so happy and honored, at the age of 19, to play with the best in the world!!! And also I would like to give a special thanks to Croatian people who appreciate and cheer my success at such an early age. Every person who knows football, knows what a privilege and honor it is to play for this club, and who can't appreciate that fact either does not know what kind of club Barcelona is or does not know football.
Alen, you're awesome. Please kick ass on your loan and come back to kick ass with Barça.