Just four weeks after making his debut for the team, Lionel Messi might win his first title with Inter Miami when his team plays Nashville in the Leagues Cup final on Saturday in Tennessee.
With nine goals in six games as they advanced through the new summer league, which also include Mexican Liga MX clubs, the Argentine World Cup winner had a profound effect on the club.
He now has the opportunity to swiftly add some American hardware to the enormous trophy haul he has already amassed with Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and the Argentine national team.
“It would be great, incredible for me, for the fans, and for the club itself. The club is trying to grow and investing a lot, with major changes to put together a team, and winning titles helps a lot,” Messi said.
“It’s a very young club…it would be beautiful for everyone,” he added.
Messi, a seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, has transformed a competition that could have been a mid-season curiosity into must-watch action for broadcasters on Apple TV with goals in every game and open, aggressive football from Miami.
He has also sparked a change in Miami’s fortunes that has been quicker and more significant than even the most upbeat Miami fan anticipated.
Messi joined a team in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference that was at the bottom of the standings and had the worst record out of all 29 teams in the league when he moved to South Florida.
But since Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, two former Barcelona teammates from Spain, joined him at the team, Miami has been unstoppable.
Miami only lost one of its six games during the tournament, a comeback 4-4 draw at Dallas that resulted in victory after a penalty shootout.
In the semi-final, the squad defeated Philadelphia, the MLS runners-up from the previous season who had gone undefeated at home in their previous 15 games, 4-1, demonstrating just how much they have progressed.
Although the new Miami, led by Argentine Gerardo “Tata” Martino, has defeated opponents like the Mexican Cruz Azul and the MLS teams Atlanta United, Orlando City, and Charlotte, full-back DeAndre Yedlin asserted that the squad is invincible.
