The awarding of the UEFA Euro 2004 hosting rights to Portugal in 1999 was the perfect opportunity for Porto to move into a more modern, functional and comfortable stadium, in line with the demands of high-level international football. The club decided to build an entirely new ground and chose a site located a few hundreds of meters southeast of the Estádio das Antas. The project was commissioned to Portuguese architect Manuel Salgado, and construction took two years to complete at a cost of €98 million. Baptised "Estádio do Dragão" (Dragon Stadium) by president Pinto da Costa, for the mythological creature placed atop the club's crest, it was officially inaugurated on 16 November 2003 with a match against Barcelona. Porto won 2–0 in front of a record 52,000 spectators, which also witnessed the professional debut of Lionel Messi. In June 2004, the venue hosted the opening ceremony and match of the UEFA Euro 2004, and four other tournament matches. The highest attendance in an official match was registered on 21 April 2004, when 50,818 people saw Porto draw Deportivo La Coruña without goals, for the first leg of the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League semi-finals. For safety reasons, its current capacity is limited to 50,431.