‘Mes-si! Mes-si!': Thousands welcome Lionel Messi to Inter Miami on electric night | Habib
FORT LAUDERDALE — He casually strolled onto the stage, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans that had taken more than a few spins through the washer.
You never would have known he’s the biggest athlete in the world, with possibly the most recognizable face on the planet.
And Sunday night, Lionel Messi became South Florida’s own.
Inter Miami officially welcomed Messi with a strobe-and-pyrotechnic bash not seen in these parts since the Heat’s Big Three.
LeBron James took his talents to South Beach.
Messi is taking his to Commercial Boulevard.
“I’m so happy to be here,” Messi told the crowd in Spanish. “I can’t wait to start training and competing. I’m here to compete, to win, to help the team as I always did.”
Messi is expected to make his playing debut Friday night in a sold-out friendly against Mexican club Cruz Azul. But for the thousands filling DRV PNK Stadium despite a vicious early-evening electrical storm, the mere sight of Messi was enough to send them into a frenzy.
“Mes-si! Mes-si! Mes-si!” they chanted, many showing up in the famous blue and white stripes of Argentina, which Messi led to the World Cup title last year. Get used to seeing him in black and pink now, although the familiar No. 10 of course will still adorn his back.
Emotional evening for David Beckham
“Please forgive me for feeling a little bit emotional tonight,” Inter Miami part-owner David Beckham told the crowd. “It really is a dream come true to help welcome Lionel Messi to Inter Miami. Leo, we are so proud that you have chosen our club for this next stage of your career.”
Beckham said signing the seven-time world player of the year was the culmination of a “10-year journey” to first land a Major League Soccer team, but then to “bring the best players in the world to MLS and the great city of Miami.”
As if fans needed another excuse to latch onto Messi, who thinks nothing of taking on two or even three defenders and making them look foolish, there’s this: By agreeing to sign with Inter Miami, Messi may have given the club and the region the largest hometown discount in sports history. Messi has long enjoyed quietly vacationing in Miami, has a couple of residences here, and turned down hundreds of millions from Saudi Arabia to join MLS. He reportedly could have made more than double the worth of his $150 million deal here.
The magnitude of such a signing wasn’t lost on managing owner Jorge Mas.
“There will always be a before and after Lionel Messi” for this club, Mas said.
Lionel Messi's club has ground to make up
The “before” isn’t pretty. Messi is joining a club on an 11-match winless streak, one that is last in the Eastern Conference with only five wins in 22 matches. There are a dozen matches left, leaving only a sliver of a margin for error, or Messi’s new side will unceremoniously be on the sidelines when the playoffs begin. Eight wins might be sufficient to get in the door. Adding Sergio Busquets, Messi’s old Barcelona teammate and a star in his own right, can only help. Busquets also appeared Sunday night and thanked fans for the welcome.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the next chapter of our story starts here,” Beckham said.
Make no mistake — Messi’s signing is about much more than the 2023 fate of Inter Miami, or even MLS. Much like when Pele joined the North American Soccer League, a player many call the greatest ever is finishing his career in the United States with groundbreaking ambitions.
“This is our moment,” Mas said. “A moment to change the football landscape in this country.”
Beckham said Messi and Busquets are examples of players who will “help build soccer and inspire the next generation of players.”
Messi spent a few minutes with microphone in hand, addressing the crowd before turning to the video boards, which showed a video with VIPs ranging from Steph Curry and Tom Brady to Gloria Estefan welcoming him to Miami. So too did presidential candidate Francis Suarez, who is raffling off suddenly-hot Inter Miami tickets to benefit his campaign. Not into politics? You don’t have to be in order to know Lionel Messi has arrived. Murals with his smiling face are popping up on various buildings in Miami-Dade.
Three hours before the event was to begin, a throng already waited at the gates to enter the stadium. Every street approaching the stadium was motionless, such was the traffic jam for a sporting event that wasn’t even a sporting event. Not even the lightning managed to discourage many, if any. Everyone came precisely to experience electricity in the air, you understand.
“Tonight, we’re doing this Miami-style, in the rain,” Mas said. “This is holy water!”
On this night, Mas and Beckham could have sold the crowd on just about anything.
They have delivered on Lionel Messi.
Impossibly, improbably, Lionel Messi.
Sports reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com and followed on Twitter @gunnerhal.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ‘Mes-si!': Thousands welcome Lionel Messi to Inter Miami on electric night
