And one day Lionel Messi’s happy vacation ended. The captain of the Argentine National Team reappeared this Wednesday in Miami and appeared at the Inter facilities to begin studies prior to the preseason, which will officially begin next Monday. It is a special moment since his arrival at Las Garzas, since it will be the start of a season that will have his friend Javier Mascherano with his first experience as a coach in a club and the challenge of playing the Club World Cup next June.
The club itself shared images of the arrival of the footballers, among whom was also the Uruguayan Luis Suarezafter having starred last weekend in a peculiar scene when intervening in a suicide attempt by a man in his country.
Messi, with a black toiletry bag and a matching warm outfit despite the fact that the city of Florida usually has high temperatures even at this time of year, arrived on time to the call scheduled by the institution’s technical and medical staff.
The last meeting of the ‘pink’ team was on November 10, almost two months ago. From there, the squad was released, Gerardo Martino announced that he was no longer the coach because he needed to settle in Rosario and Mascherano’s arrival was confirmed.
During that period, Messi – after playing the double date of the South American Qualifiers with the Argentine National Team against Paraguay and Peru – chose to stay in Rosario during his entire vacation. There he spent the end of the year festivities and received visits from various music and sports personalities.
Obviously he was also surrounded by his main affections: his wife Antonela Roccuzzo and his children Thiago, Mateo y Ciro. In fact, at the beginning of his extensive stay, he shared a day with his eldest son at the Bella Vista leprosy compound, where the minor divisions of Inter Miami competed in the so-called Newell’s Cup.
The president of the AFA, Claudio Chiqui Tapia, also stopped by to share a morning of mates before the end of 2024. And he started 2025 as champion: Messi, at his country house in the Rosario town of Funes, celebrated the victory of the ‘Dolphins’ against the ‘Lizards’, in the challenge that is held annually between several family members and other friends invited to participate.
The closing of his vacation was with several of the companions he had in the remembered 1987 Newell’s category. The photo generated a stir and support from ‘Leprosy’ fans. There the captain of the Argentine national team could be seen smiling, along with the other players from the 1987 category, with whom he shared the field during his training period.
The four individual records that Messi aspires to with Inter Miami
Mascherano’s new team will have a quick challenge on the calendar: it will be a friendly against América from Mexicochampion of the recent Aztec Apertura tournament, which will be played on January 18 in Las Vegas. It will be a demanding season for the ‘Herons’, with chance of five titles: the Leagues Cupthe MLS -Community Shield y Playoffs-the Concacaf Champions Cup and the Club World Cup. You could also add the Very final with the Argentine National Team, if the duel against Spain is finally scheduled. In his record, The 37-year-old from Rosario has 45 titles, so if he obtains all of them he will exceed 50.
Inter Miami will be in group A of the maximum FIFA club tournament, which will be played in the United States, and will have them as the protagonist of the opening match, at the Hard Rock Stadium – the same one where Argentina was champion of the Copa América 2024-, June 15. The rival, then, will be Al Ahly of Egypt. On that first date, meanwhile, they will play Palm trees y Porto.
There are also a couple of individual records to break for the ‘Pulga’. The one of Most goals in a single MLS season it’s from mexican Carlos Vela (with 34) and although Messi no longer converts as much as in previous seasons because he changed his game a few meters further back, with his hitting in free kicks and effectiveness in dangerous situations, he could be a threat.
He record for assists in a single MLS season it’s from Colombian Carlos Valderramawith 26 in 2000. The man from Rosario, with his unique style of play, will seek to dethrone the “Pibe” and establish a new standard of productivity in the championship.
There is only one footballer who could score five goals in an MLS game: Clint Mathis. Messi already did it with the Argentine National Team, against Estonia in a friendly in June 2022. The Argentine scored a hat-trick against New England Revolutionat the close of the regular phase of the American tournament.
The last ‘personal’ objective – beyond the fact that he does not usually give importance to those individual statistics – could be the player with the most presences in Inter Miami, although with his 39 games he is far from the goalkeeper Drake Callender with 112 matches.