The end of his Inter Miami debut was ‘a film.’ ‘Messi’s always there to write those’
The whistle blew, the referee signaled for a free kick and it was almost as if Inter Miami CF had already won. Everyone knew what Lionel Messi was capable of and in this moment, on this stage there was no way he wasn’t going to come through.
The superstar attacking midfielder made his debut for Inter Miami in the 54th minute Friday and every time he touched the ball in the final 30-plus minutes, the anticipation was overwhelming. He created chance after chance with his passing and footwork. He nearly bent a corner kick straight into the net in the 68th minute. It all had to building up to something.
“A film that we have seen before,” new coach Gerardo Martino said Friday, through an interpreter. “Messi’s always there to write those.”
Worth the hype! Messi scores last-minute free-kick goal to beat Cruz Azul in Miami debut
From about 25 yards out, Messi did what he does best and lofted a perfectly placed free kick into the top left corner of the net, with virtually no time left on the clock. Miami opened the 2023 Leagues Cup with a thrilling 2-1 win against Cruz Azul of Mexico’s Liga MX in a manner only Messi could have delivered.
The ending would’ve been considered cliche if it capped off a sports movie. It would’ve been too obvious if it was scripted, too predictable for even the most novice screenwriters to jot down in a rough draft.
Sometimes, nothing beats reality.
“This was what we always saw as our vision, me and Jorge, and Jose and the club,” co-owner David Beckham told Apple TV+ on Friday. “This is what we saw.”
He has played fewer than 40 minutes with his new team so far and yet Messi has already delivered in all-time Miami sports moment.
It was the 94th minute and Messi, with the score knotted at 1-1, stepped up for a free kick a few feet outside the penalty area. He has spent much of the second half trying to get Miami another goal — he entered with Miami already up 1-0, only for Cruz Azul tie the game at 1-1 in the 65th minute — and saw one final chance in stoppage time. If he hadn’t scored, Miami and Cruz Azul would’ve gone straight to penalty kicks to determine a winner.
It was a goal he had scored so many times before, but never in the United States, for a Major League Soccer team, for Miami. He planted his right foot, swung his left one and placed the ball exactly where every player wants to.
Fireworks blasted off around DRV PNK Stadium. An already fervent crowd went ballistic. Messi ran to the right corner to celebrate with his new teammates and then ran to the other side of the field to hug his family.
Nearby, Beckham was in tears, tennis legend Serena Williams screamed and reality television star Kim Kardashian’s eyes bulged out of her head.
“I had my shirt off,” said center back Kamal Miller, who subbed out of the game in the 74th minute after an injury. “I put it on right away because I knew he was at least going to do something special.”
“On the bench, we felt like fans, not teammates.”
It was hard not to feel like one, even for the most cynical viewer.
The Messi saga has been a long, drawn-out circus for Miami and MLS.
Rumors have swirled of the 36-year-old Argentine’s pending move to Miami, literally, for years and intensified in the last few months. They became a reality in June when Messi agreed to sign with Miami, spurning a massive offer from Al Hilal SFC of Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Professional League, and then officially became reality last Saturday when his deal was finalized and announced.
Unsurprisingly, his debut was a sold-out affair. Lost in all the hoopla, however, has largely been the status of the team: Miami is the worst team in MLS, almost certainly going to miss the MLS Cup playoffs for the third time in four years — not counting its trip to the play-in round of the 2020 MLS Cup playoffs, which were expanded because of COVID-19 — and still stuck playing in Broward County because of franchise’s ongoing inability to get Miami Freedom Park built.
For at least one night, those details were all extraneous. Messi was worth all the hype and then some, and if he plays the way he did in his debut, Miami won’t be in the MLS cellar for long.
“This is such a special night for us, for our families, for everyone that’s in the stadium, for you guys,” Beckham said. “It’s such a moment for this country, it’s such a moment for this league and it’s such a proud moment for us.”
