Lionel Messi mania grips Miami ahead of legend’s MLS debut

Soccer

By Brian Lewis

July 21, 2023 | 10:00am

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — For years — make that decades — soccer in the United States has grown one small step at a time. Lionel Messi is the giant leap.

Sixteen years to the day after David Beckham first took the field with the LA Galaxy, Messi is slated to debut Friday night for the team Beckham owns, Inter Miami CF, in a sold-out Leagues Cup match Mexican club Cruz Azul at DRV PNK Stadium.

The symmetry is clear.

Pelé was a trailblazer for soccer in this country, and Beckham a catalyst.

The Argentine star’s arrival has been compared to both. Rubbish. This isn’t that big.

It’s bigger.

“I’m so happy to be here,” Messi said at Sunday’s introduction. “I’m here to compete, to win, to help the team as I always did.”

Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas crowed, “This is our moment. A moment to change the football landscape in this country.”

And it wasn’t hyperbole.

When Pelé — the man with whom Messi is vying for the GOAT title — joined the New York Cosmos in 1975, he had to force the American public into even acknowledge the beautiful game existed. Beckham had to legitimize MLS.

But Messi Mania can make the U.S. a soccer nation.

No, not unseating the NFL or NBA or MLB, but he can give MLS a seat at their table.

If he performs, he can make it a top-10 league in the world.

“We want to be one of the top soccer leagues in the world,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said. “Now we proved to the world that we can compete with the top player in the world, but how do we capture the hearts and minds of fans around the world? How do we capture the hearts and minds of every player?”

Messi can capture the hearts and minds of American youth to take up soccer at a time when the opportunity and infrastructure is there for exponential growth.

“You add the greatest player of all time, it’s automatically going to bring popularity,” Inter Miami’s Deandre Yedlin replied to a question from The Post. “I remember being young and Beckham came. … It inspires you even a little more — I can maybe get to play with these players.

“So young kids now, they look at him and [say] wow, this league has these sorts of players. And not just young people, players in different leagues may be saying, ‘OK I’m attracted the league now.’ So it’s going to have a huge effect on soccer in America. And it’s a great time, with the World Cup coming in 2026.”

The Messi Effect.

Inter Miami hired Argentine manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino who coached Messi in Barcelona, added ex-Barca teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, and been linked with Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta.

“I’m excited to play [again] with the best player in soccer ever,” Busquets said. “For me personally, the fact Leo [Messi] was here was even more incentive to come.”

For his part, Martino doesn’t see an aging player.

He sees one who’ll play even freer after having finally won his long-pursued World Cup last year.

“Leo is no longer carrying that large bag that he removed about seven months ago, that’s the most important thing,” Martino said. “It’s more important how he is than how I am. I believe we’re at a good point in time.”

And the Messi Effect is organic, done with his play.

He’s quiet and avoids the spotlight, which is why he’s house-hunting in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.

Beckham did almost six hours of interviews at his introduction, but Messi talked just two minutes at his on Sunday.

But 20,000 fans still braved a torrential downpour to greet him.

Since Messi signed, Inter Miami vaulted from 900,000 Instagram followers to 10.4 million — more than the Knicks and Dallas Cowboys combined.

Messi is 36 years old and Inter Miami an MLS-worst 5-14-3, but that’s minutia. In 2022 he was named FIFA Best Men’s Player and led Argentina to the World Cup title, scoring twice in the final and another in penalty kicks with 1.5 billion people watching.

That’s the star power that convinced Inter Miami to give him $150 million over the next 2 ½ years, including equity in the team.

And he’ll get a cut of Apple’s $250 million-a-year deal with MLS, as well as Adidas’ pact.

And that star power has gripped South Florida, long before Friday’s debut or even his rainy introduction.

There were fans gathered on the street during Messi’s last practice before his debut, hoping to catch a peek of him arriving or leaving.

Miami has a strong Latin contingent, and Messi was adored long before he arrived.

“Once in life,” one fan, Miguel, told The Post. He was holding a Messi jersey while his sister Michelle was wearing hers, having driven an hour in the outside hope of a quick glance. “We’re never going to see anything like this ever again.”

There are an estimated 150,000 Argentines in Miami.

Drive around the city’s artsy Wynwood neighborhood and you’ll see Messi-themed graffiti — none more imposing than the one on NW 28th St., done by Argentine artist Maxi Bagnasco that covered the wall of a five-story apartment building.

He’s even taken over menus, with La Birra Bar in North Miami Beach having a Messy Burger and Hard Rock Cafe boasting a Messi Chicken Sandwich.

“This is huge in the community,” Miguel told The Post.

And pricey.

Asked if any of his group of fans had tickets, Miguel replied, “No. We’re not wealthy.”

Tickets for Messi’s expected Friday debut have sold for as much as $110,000 per Vivid Seats, with some fans traveling almost 700 miles.

Prices for his Aug. 20 MLS debut against Charlotte surged almost 900 percent since early June.

Still, big picture, Messi is believed to be willingly shouldering the responsibility of not just continuing to excel at soccer but promoting it.

“Messi loves football,” Cruz Azul manager Ricardo Ferretti said. “If he were already tired of it, he wouldn’t be here. He came here to promote the sport. He has a status that he himself should respect. … He feels able to do this. If he didn’t feel that way, he wouldn’t have come.

“But he feels a commitment, he wants to be here and he’ll keep showing it.”