THEN AND NOW: What the world’s greatest soccer stars looked like at the start of their careers

• Some of the world’s biggest soccer stars are approaching the end of their careers.
• Lionel Messi is 32, Cristiano Ronaldo 34, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is 38.
• As we enter the new decade, Business Insider has taken a look back at what some of the globe’s most famous players looked like as youngsters.
• Find out who has changed the most over time below.
• Read more of our soccer coverage here.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Lionel Messi’s appearance may have dramatically changed, but his magical soccer skills certainly have not.

Cristiano Ronaldo: teenage heart-throb in 2003, teenage heart-throb in 2019.

Robert Lewandowski was once a pencil-thin teen, but he’s now one of the world’s most revered goalscorers.

Few things in life are certain other than death, taxes, and Sergio Ramos getting sent off in El Clasico (it’s happened five times).

Zlatan Ibrahimovic made a name for himself scoring crazy goals with Ajax from 2001 to 2004, and he’s been doing the same ever since.

Mohamed Salah is barely recognizable from his days as a youngster at FC Basel

Neymar has added a beard and tattoos these days, but he still had a mullet back in 2009.

12 years apart, same old Luis Suarez — he’s scored 466 career goals to date.

Eden Hazard still wears the same number for Belgium, but he’s grown up a lot since making his debut in 2008.

Diego Costa has aged incredibly well given that he was just 21 in the left hand picture.

Now a man of many haircuts, Paul Pogba was keeping it simple as youngster with Manchester United in 2009.

Other than dying his hair and growing a beard, not much has changed about Sergio Aguero since he started his career at Independiente 16 years ago.