Leo Messi appeared this Thursday for the first time before the media since he was an Inter Miami player. They were 18 minutes of attention in which he insisted on the ease of adapting to the city and the project and in which he highlighted that “the change from Barcelona to Paris was complicated, this was totally different”.
Messi had an outstanding impact at Inter Miami, scoring nine goals in six games and qualifying his team, bottom team in MLS, for the Leagues Cup final, the new tournament that measures American clubs against those of the League. MX.
Inter Miami is on the brink of winning the first title in its history and Messi’s ambition came to the fore: “We don’t have to stay with what we did but aim higher still.”
It is not just about a title, but about what it means, the first step to make the club bigger. “We knew that it was an opportunity to change things from how they came in the league. It was a nice opportunity to start changing that and to set ourselves difficult goals but that we are prepared to be able to compete”, Messi commented.
There is another title, in this case of an individual nature, such as the Ballon d’Or for which he has many options, but the Argentine captain acknowledged not seeing it as a priority. “I think that during my career I said it many times, it is one of the most beautiful awards on an individual level. But I never gave importance to it in quotes, the most important thing was the collective awards. I was lucky to win everything in my career, and later of the World Cup, which was what I was missing, much less am I thinking about this award. I don’t think about it, if it comes well and if not, I’m satisfied to have achieved my goals and now I have others with this club”, highlighted Messi.
Winning the Leagues Cup, the first title, in such a short time, would be very important for the club’s project: “It would be incredible for me and for all the fans, the club is betting on continuing to grow and have a big change. To make a reference team. Winning titles helps a lot. Getting the first title would be beautiful for everyone”.
In purely sporting terms, the numbers confirm the speed with which Messi adapted to his new challenge, with nine goals in six games, but there are other relevant factors, and he wanted to confirm this.
“There has been a great growth since the arrival of Tata Martino to the team. We are very happy to achieve the first goal, which was to be in the Concachampions next year and now to fight for the title,” he said.
The climate of South Florida is the most complex thing Leo Messi has had to face since his arrival at Inter: “At the beginning it was a bit difficult for me, there is a lot of heat and a lot of humidity and sometimes it shows. I gradually adapted and I I feel very comfortable too. You never finish adapting to this climate. I talk to colleagues who have been here all their lives and still suffer from it”.
And when asked about the novelty of playing on artificial turf, he did not disagree: “There is no problem with a synthetic pitch, my entire youth stage was on a synthetic pitch and I have no problem adapting again,” Messi said.
Messi explained how the process of opting for the Inter Miami proposal was. “My decision went through many issues, we thought about it and decided with my wife and my children too, the family in general. I chose this place above all things. Today I can tell you that I am very happy with the decision made for how we live this new life,” he said.
The Messi family is still looking for a forever home but it feels like home. “We have only been in Miami for a month and a half, we still do not have the house where we are going to live definitively. We decided to come to this place and the people made everything very easy. Both in the club, as well as the fans, the people who I meet every day on the street. The city is spectacular and makes it easy for me to live the day calmly. The kids are starting school and that helps you settle in to a place and to their day-to-day life as well “, commented the world champion.
Despite the fact that there were doubts about his future, the Argentine clarified that the decision to go to Miami had already been advanced for a long time: “I feel really very happy as I repeated many times. It is a place that I chose to come and where I wanted to be. It was a decision made with time, it was not overnight and this makes it much easier. It is the place where we want to be and that makes everything easier.”
Messi started his experience at Inter Miami with nine goals in six games and will play this Saturday in the Leagues Cup final against Nashville.
