Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Inter Miami played six preseason games last season. Most were held behind closed doors with few people present, all in Florida. The biggest headlines probably came when several supporters prematurely blew off fireworks and were expelled from the exhibition season opening.
This season has been very different.
This is life in Lionel Messi’s world.
The soccer legend and Inter Miami are on a two-game tour of Saudi Arabia this week, with the first match against Al-Hilal on Monday and the second against Al Nassr on Thursday. Messi may share the pitch with longtime rival and fellow great Cristiano Ronaldo, assuming the Portugal star has recovered enough from a calf injury to play.
The club has already played two exhibitions this year, one in El Salvador and one at Dallas’ Cotton Bowl, with matches in Hong Kong and Japan scheduled when the Saudi trip is completed. It’s an all-around-the-world, big-crowd, big-money, bright-spotlight set of preseason games for Inter Miami, which quickly became a global brand after Messi announced his signing with the Major League Soccer side last summer.
Lionel Messi And Inter Miami Are In Saudi Arabia To Continue Their Around-The-World Preseason Tour
“It’s incredible,” said Inter Miami defender DeAndre Yedlin, captain before Messi arrived. “Obviously, it’s not just one individual, but I believe the majority of the attention is on Leo. So that just shows how much influence he has had on the game. People want to know what he’s doing. People want to know what he’s involved in and what’s going on. It’s fantastic for the league. It’s excellent for us.”
Said Messi is the reason Inter Miami is in Saudi Arabia. There is no larger brand in the game than the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner and captain of reigning World Cup champion Argentina, Lionel Messi, who turned down a chance to play in Saudi Arabia to join MLS and Inter Miami, is a Saudi ambassador to promote tourism.
He was once suspended by one of his former clubs, Paris Saint-Germain, following an unauthorised journey to the nation. Inter Miami not only appreciates the value of having Messi but also embraces this massive preseason stretch ahead of the MLS season, which begins on February 21.
“Having the possibility of seeing Messi up close in this circumstance is really very valuable,” Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino remarked in Spanish last week before the club left on its 13 1/2-hour charter flight to Riyadh. “You have to see how many times these people are going to have this possibility.”
Lionel Messi And Inter Miami Are In Saudi Arabia To Continue Their Around-The-World Preseason Tour
The financial benefit of Inter Miami and Messi playing in Saudi Arabia has not been disclosed. It’s logical to believe it’s a large sum, enough to help the MLS club offset at least some of Messi’s salary — he’s on a two-and-a-half-year contract for around $150 million — as well as what the team spent to bring in players like Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Luis Suarez to play alongside him.
The Saudis have made it apparent that they are willing to spend a lot of money to get what they want; some have used the phrase “sportswashing” to describe how the kingdom has spent billions of dollars to fund LIV Golf and lure Formula One, boxing, horse racing, BMX racing, and professional wrestling. Much of this is met with strong criticism. Messi’s popularity has remained strong due to his relationship with Saudi Arabia. Such is his power.
“What I love about Saudi,” Messi says in a commercial campaign promoting the kingdom, “is that I always discover things I never expected.”
The journey itself demonstrates how different everything has become for Inter Miami. Last season, the team met Florida International University with no supporters allowed in one of its preseason games; this season, it faces Ronaldo, with the soccer world watching for a meaningless outcome. The team had fewer than 1 million Instagram followers when it started; now it has 16 million, many of whom are undoubtedly Messi’s half-billion Instagram followers.
Lionel Messi And Inter Miami Are In Saudi Arabia To Continue Their Around-The-World Preseason Tour
A voyage around the world to experience a completely different world is logical.
“It’s a little different, and I think the upside is that we get to see some different teams and types of competition,” Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender said Sunday. “We see it as a challenge to evolve as a squad by exposing ourselves to different teams and competitions. So, while it’s still new to us, everyone has a positive attitude towards it.
SOURCE – (AP)
