Lionel Messi's fairytale Inter Miami debut was yet another priceless memory of a glorious career
The clock had ticked four minutes into the red when, for a few moments in Fort Lauderdale, Lionel Messi stood over a free kick and time stood still.
This was it. The moment that Inter Miami supporters had been waiting for ever since Messi announced his move to Major League Soccer; the night that co-owners David Beckham and Jorge Mas had been dreaming of since before their team had even played a match; the day, if you believe the promises, that soccer in the United States changed forever. It couldn’t have been more perfectly primed.
With Inter Miami tied 1-1 with Cruz Azul, Messi took a couple of steps and sent a 25-yard effort towards goal. It was virtually the final kick of this Leagues Cup opener. It curled over the wall, under the bar and into the net. Cue carnage: fireworks lit up the Florida sky and down below, Messi was lost in a hurricane of pink jerseys and noise and emotion as 21,000 supporters lost their minds. Among them? LeBron James, Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian and Beckham. The co-owner’s eyes had soon glazed over.
Maybe, just maybe, Messi’s arrival might just change things, after all. As starts go? Oh my.
Tickets for the opening night of this tournament - involving teams from MLS and Liga MX - cost barely $30 a few weeks ago. By Sunday night, they were supposedly going for six figures. Messi, meanwhile, is set to pocket between $50-60million every year at Inter Miami. But on night one, the greatest of all time provided yet another priceless memory of a glorious career. He had only been on the field for 40 minutes.
Messi was named on the bench by manager Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino. He came on early in the second half and thought he had won the game when he set up Josef Martinez, three minutes from tme, only for
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