Lionel Messi’s first day at Inter Miami did not want to miss it, not even God. The presentation of the best soccer player on the planet, in what is now the most famous team in MLS, had the special participation of a thunderstorm that stopped over the stadium for almost two hours, altering the entire plan that had been drawn up the day before. But the protagonist of this historic day was Messi, always Messi.
The rain began to fall at the moment the doors of the DRV PNK Stadium, this small stadium set up in Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami, opened. And it served to alleviate the extreme heat that hit the region throughout Sunday, with 45 degrees of wind chill. Leo will also have to live with these things during his adventure in Florida.
Before and after the rain, the party belonged to the people. At 9 in the morning the first fan appeared, a man from Corrientes named Harold who has lived in Miami for a year and with what he earns was enough to go to the World Cup in Qatar. Now, his dream is to give Messi a hug. “I miss my family a lot, but this makes me feel closer to home, I follow Leo everywhere,” he confesses. His testimony is similar to that of many Argentines who have lived here for a long time: they do not begin by saying the reasons that led them to leave the country, but instead celebrate this soccer phenomenon that makes them happy today.
It is clear, Inter Miami became even more Argentine with Messi. At times, the preview seemed like a promotion game but with iPhones 13 and high-end cars. On the street there are “rags” without clothes, owners who allow parking in their cars for 45 dollars, and with the protection of the law. A little more shady is the business of a Venezuelan couple who opened the trunk of their Honda to display t-shirts for $50, in a pink and black version. The shorts or the hat, 30 dollars. All in cash, of course.
But not everything is money: around the cars there is a lot of partying, drums, barbecue and “three shots” rockets. Messi’s followers seem like tribes, or “families” as they define themselves. One offers choripanes. “How much is it? No, this is not for sale, grab one. We’re at a party, this is a family,” he explains.
The “family” concept would be repeated at the climax of the night, when the rain passed and Lionel Messi appeared on the playing field to speak to the public for the first time as an Inter Miami player. David Beckham spoke of Leo’s family, who also mentioned “Antonela, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro” with the British pronunciation of him.
Jorge Mas, the multimillionaire owner of the club, the architect of this colossal transfer that required the corporate support of Apple TV and Adidas, spoke of the family. The son of exiled and anti-Castro Cubans, Mas mentioned that his people came from the island “in search of freedom.” And the tribune gave him a small ovation. Everyone was waiting for Messi’s word.
“Let’s sing” (sic), a Yankee announcer said at one point, with the voice of a boxing presenter. And in the parliaments the local version of “Muchachos” thundered, also sung by La Mosca but dedicated to Messi and Inter Miami. People were not hooked, and that they had distributed posters with the lyrics. They will be able to imitate us, never match us.
“I present to you your new number 10. Our number 10. Your 10. America’s number 10… Lionel Andrés Messi”, the tycoon Mas finally said.
“Thank you very much, good evening. Thank you for this welcome and this affection. I am very happy to be here, to have chosen this city and this project. They are making everything easy for us, everything is spectacular since we arrived. I really want to start train and compete. I want to win, that the club continues to grow. I have no doubts that we are going to have a good time and beautiful things are going to happen. Thank you all very much for this day”, said Leo, in Spanish of course.
The one who did speak English was the Spanish Sergio Busquets, introduced a little while before Leo, but his arrival went more unnoticed. The debut of both could be next Friday in this stadium against Cruz Azul for the League Cup: training sessions with Tata Martino will be key. Jordi Alba is missing, whose signing is about to fall.
The night continued with the musical shows but in the stadium there was one last image out of the programming: the children of Messi and those of Busquets playing a ball, and Leo coming out again on stage to spend some time with them, hug them and lift her hands shyly when a light discovered her presence. At that point in the night, no one remembered the rain and lightning, Damn, what the hell?
